TABLE OF CONTENTS - COnnecting REpositories · 2016-12-24 · table of contents list of articles 3 organisations - programmes 7 • i globalisation, localisation and tropical forest

No. 39-40 Autumn/Winter 2003

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GLOBALISATION,LOCALISATION ANDTROPICAL

FOREST MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Articles 3

Organisations - Programmes 7

• I GLOBALISATION, LOCALISATION AND TROPICALFOREST MANAGEMENT: INTRODUCING THECHALLENGE OF NEW MARKETS AND NEWPARTNERSCHIPS 7

• II THE FEASIBILITY OF PAYMENTS FOR• ECOSYSTEM SERVICES 16• III OPPORTUNITIES FOR FOREST MARKETS TO

BENEFIT LOCAL LOW-INCOME PRODUCERS 23• IV GREENING (TRANS)NATIONAL LOGGING

COMPANIES? STRATEGIES TO COMBAT ILLEGAL • AND UNSUSTAINABLE LOGGING 40• V CERTIFICATION AND TROPICAL FORESTRY 51• VI LINKING GLOBAL CONSERVATION OBJECTIVES

AND LOCAL USE OF FOREST AND WILDLIFERESOURCES 67

• VII GLOBAL-LOCAL PARTNERSHIPS FORCONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE FOREST USE:

• A LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE 83• VIII THE IMPACT OF DECENTRALISATION ON• FOREST RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 98• IX A LEARNING PERSPECTIVE ON PARTNERSHIPS• IN COLLABORATIVE FOREST MANAGEMENT 110

Research CooperationSought 121

Internet Features 123

Funding/Opportunities 124

Other News 125

Publications 132

Past Issues of ETFRN News 141

International CalendarEnclosed

Editorial

ETFRN News39-40/03

Dear readers,

Tropical forest management is facing new challenges. New actors and partnerships for the conservationand sustainable management of forests have been formed and are operating at multiple scales. Thesenew global-local partnerships received an impulse through: globalisation, which connects localcommunities with international actors such as environmental NGOs and research organisations lendingsupport to sustainable forest use; and localisation (i.e. decentralisation, democratisation, devolution ofpower and political autonomy for indigenous people), which creates new actors in environmentalmanagement.

As a result, forest management is no longer in the exclusive hands of a single entity - whether government,private, NGO or local community - and new forums for stakeholder negotiations, alliances and joint actionsare emerging. Examples can be found at global level (e.g. the World Bank/WWF Alliance for ForestConservation) and at regional level (e.g. the Guiana Shield Initiative), while numerous partnershipsbetween international donors, government agencies, national and international NGOs, private sectoractors, research organisations and communities are emerging at local level for the protection andco-management of forest resources.

Will these new alliances and partnerships be able to curb the destruction and degradation of tropicalforests, and under which conditions?. Will they be able to put sustainable forest management into effect?Will new markets and market incentives for sustainable management that emerge as a result ofglobalisation be able to affect the way forests are managed? And how will all these changes influence thelivelihoods of forest-dwelling people and poor populations living at the forest fringe?

Dealing with these questions, the articles in this issue are organised under several headings, (listed onpages) , which correspond with the titles of panels and mini-symposia at the congress on 'Globalisation,localisation and tropical forest management in the 21st century', that is to be held in Amsterdam on 22-23October 2003 (http://www2.fmg.uva.nl/agids/agids/globalisation.html). This event is organised by theAmsterdam Research Institute for Global Issues and Development Studies (AGIDS, University ofAmsterdam) in collaboration with the Centre for Latin American Research and Documentation (CEDLA),the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM, Free University), the International Agricultural Centre (IAC),Tropenbos International, the Environmental Policy Group and the Forest and Nature Conservation PolicyGroup of Wageningen University and Forest Trends in Washington, USA.

I wish to thank all the authors for their smooth cooperation, ETFRN for dedicating this issue of ETFRNNews to the congress theme and the Amsterdam Institute for International Development (AIID), Universityof Amsterdam, Municipality of Amsterdam, Novib (Oxfam-Netherlands), the Netherlands Foundation forthe Advancement of Tropical Research (WOTRO), the International Agricultural Centre (IAC) and theCentre for Resource Studies of Development (CERES) for supporting the congress financially.

I hope you will enjoy reading this issue and that the articles will provide food for thought and debate.

Mirjam A.F. Ros-Tonen, AGIDS, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands

We are grateful to Dr Mirjam A.F. Ros-Tonen for editing this issue of the ETFRN News.

Willemine Brinkman ETFRN Coordinator

ETFRN Coordination Unitc/o Tropenbos InternationalPO Box 232, 6700 AE WageningenThe NetherlandsTel: +31 317 495516 Fax: +31 317 495521Email: [email protected]://www.etfrn.org/etfrn

Editor: Willemine BrinkmanGuest Editor for this issue: Mirjam A.F. Ros-TonenEditorial assistance: Howard Turner(languagecorrection) and Ann-Jo Proos (layout)Cover illustration: Hugo Klein Klouwenberg

Organisation - Institutions - ProgrammesList of Articles

ETFRN News 39-40/03

Articles ETFRN Newsletter No. 39-40, Autumn/Winter Issue 2003

PART I: GLOBALISATION, LOCALISATION AND TROPICAL FORESTMANAGEMENT: INTRODUCING THE CHALLENGE OF NEW MARKETS AND NEW

PARTNERSHIPSIntroduction (Mirjam A.F. Ros-Tonen)The need for new models of political dialogue and interaction (Arturo Escobar)Bridging the gap: communities, forests and international networks (Marcus Colchester)Does globalised science work for the poor? Forest perspectives (Melissa Leach andJames Fairhead)

PART II: THE FEASIBILITY OF PAYMENTS FOR ECOSYSTEM SERVICESDeveloping synergies between carbon sinks and sustainable development through forestcertification (Catrinus Jepma)Carbon as a non-timber forest product (Margaret M. Skutsch)Towards socially and environmentally friendly carbon: learning from pilot projects inBolivia and Brazil (Peter May, Emily Boyd, Fernando Veiga and Manyu Chang)Leakage in CDM projects: are forest and energy projects equally troubled? (ArildAngelsen, Jens Aune, Stein Holden and Solveig Glomsrød)Economic valuation of the local and global value of tropical forest: a comparison betweenthe Leuser National Park (Indonesia) and the Iwokrama forest (Guyana) (Pieter vanBeukering)

PART III: OPPORTUNITIES FOR FOREST MARKETS TO BENEFIT LOCAL LOW-INCOME PRODUCERS

Time for something different: putting markets to the service of the forest poor (SaraScherr, Andy White and David Kaimowitz)How can the organisational challenges to multi-scale partnerships between forestrycompanies and local communities be overcome? (James Mayers and Sonja Vermeulen)The scope for improving livelihoods on the basis of commercial non-timber forestproduction (Mirjam A.F. Ros-Tonen and Freerk Wiersum)Indigenous forest owners: does higher income mean higher pressure? (Han Overman andJosefien Demmer)Bamboo sector development as a means for sustaining forest livelihoods (Herwig M.Cleuren)Global commodities with local value: non-timber forest product (NTFP) development inthe Brazilian Amazon (Kei Otsuki)Corporate-community partnerships in Amazonian indigenous communities (CarlaMorsello)First FSC-certified non-timber forest products available from the Brazilian Amazon (Tindevan Andel)New synergies in the promotion of cocoa-based agroforestry systems in the humid forestzone of West and Central Africa (Denis Sonwa, Stephan Weise and Marc Janssens)

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PART IV: GREENING (TRANS)NATIONAL LOGGING COMPANIES? STRATEGIES TOCOMBAT ILLEGAL AND UNSUSTAINABLE LOGGING

Greening of forest industries in the South (Peter Ho)The prospects and problems relating to sustainable management of the Congo basinforests (Frank Nwonwu)Globalisation and sustainability: the forestry and wood industries on the move –– socialand labour implications (Peter Poschen)Global civil society and forest management in the Russian Far East (Maria Tysiachnioukand Jonathan Reisman)Natural resources governance: combating illegal logging at regional level (Kevin R. Gray)Tales and truths in the forests of Surinam (Linda van der Valk)Renegotiating the ITTA: will delegates look forward or backward? (Andy White)

PART V: CERTIFICATION AND TROPICAL FORESTRYForest certification and its present and potential influence on regulatory frameworks andforest policies (Gerardo Segura)Certification in complex socio-political settings (Michael Richards)Forest certification and small forest enterprises: key trends, benefits and impacts(Rebecca Butterfield)Forest certification and communities: looking forward to the next decade (Augusta Molnar)Sustainable forest management in Brazil and the role of FSC forest certification (Andre deFreitas)Comparison of standards for evaluation of sustainable forest management betweencountries from the South and the North (Bart Holvoet and Bart Muys) Capacity building in forest certification: linking an international market mechanism tonational initiatives (Anne C. de Fraiture and Wouter Leen Hijweege)Remote sensing and GIS for supporting sustainable forest management certification inthe tropics (Cui Yihun, Yousif Ali Hussin and Ali Sharifi)Beyond timber: certification of non-timber forests products (Patricia Shanley)

PART VI: LINKING GLOBAL CONSERVATION OBJECTIVES AND LOCAL USE OFFOREST AND WILDLIFE RESOURCES

International organisations, civil society and tropical forest management (Eero Palmujoki)Strategic partnerships to combat forest conversion and the role of financial institutions(Jan Joost Kessler)Beyond community-based conservation: policy and institutional arrangements forpartnerships in forest biodiversity management (James Gichia Njogu)Not by maize alone: forest access and rural livelihoods in southwest Ethiopia (YihenewZewdie)Global forest management decisions and local use of forest resources in Kenya: exploringthe link (Wario R. Adano and Karen Witsenburg)Local people and local benefits in integrated biodiversity conservation: a case study fromRanomafana National Park, Madagascar (Maija Kaisa Korhonen) Assessing mammal status in tropical rain forests using local knowledge (Christiaan A. vander Hoeven)Biodiversity conservation through burning: a case study of woodlands in the BudongoForest Reserve, NW Uganda (Grace Nangendo, Oliver van Straaten and Alfred de Gier)

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Is sustainable mangrove management possible in the Red River delta of Vietnam? (LeThi Van Hue)

PART VII: GLOBAL-LOCAL PARTNERSHIPS FOR CONSERVATION ANDSUSTAINABLE FOREST USE: A LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE

Nicaragua: the rescaling of indigenous forestry (Mary Brook)Partnerships, paper production and power: coalition-building to oppose unequal land-useopportunities in southern Costa Rica (Heleen van den Hombergh)Volcan Arenal National Park and the community of El Castillo: the need for improving thelinks between parks and people in Costa Rica (Juan Antonio Aguirre González)Partnerships and sustainable forest management: towards sustaining mahogany(Swietenia macrophylla) in the Maya forest of Mexico and Belize (Laura K. Snook)Partnerships for sustainable forest management: lessons from Esmeraldas province inEcuador (Nathalie Walker and Laura Rival)Partnerships across scales: lessons from extractive reserves in Brazilian Amazonia(Sergio Rosendo)Negotiating solutions for local sustainable development and the prevention ofdeforestation in the Brazilian Amazon (Imme Scholz)Globalisation and the environment: the effects of the financial crisis on tropical forestmanagement in Brazilian Amazonia (Sjur Kasa and Lars Otto Næss)The Guiana Shield initiative as a multi-level strategy for sustainable forest management(Pitou van Dijck)

PART VIII: THE IMPACT OF DECENTRALISATION ON FOREST RESOURCEMANAGEMENT

Central control of local resource management: the impacts of devolution (EvaWollenberg, Bruce Campbell, Sheona Shackleton and David Edmunds)The impact of decentralised forest governance: a case study from Bolivia (Wil de Jong,Michel Becker, Sergio Ruiz and Carmen Gottwald)Redistribution of Indonesian forests: impacts of decentralisation on power in forestmanagement (Hanna Kaisti)Management of forest areas in Indonesia following forest policy decentralisation (RetnoMaryani)Devolution of forest management: a cautionary case of Pukhtun Jirgas in disputesettlements (Pakistan) (Sara Southwold-Llewellyn)Entitling local communities in forest management: has decentralised forest managementaffected charcoal production practices in Eastern Senegal? (Maaike Snel and JohanPost)Natural resource management and decentralisation in Senegal : the downside ofdecentralisation (Laurence Boutinot)Rural wood markets and decentralisation in Mali. Some issues (Baptiste Hautdidier andLaurence Boutinot)

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PART IX: A LEARNING PERSPECTIVE ON PARTNERSHIPS IN COLLABORATIVEFOREST MANAGEMENT

Learning in adaptive collaborative management of community forests: lessons fromIndonesia (Yurdi Yasmi and Yanti Kusumanto)Public participation in community forestry policy in Thailand. The influence of academicsas brokers (Sacha Zurcher)Influencing the international forest policy: the role of collaborative research (Purabi Bose) An experiment relating to the participation by and partnerships between people in a tigerreserve in India (S. John Joseph)The dilemma of 21st century forest management in Papua New Guinea (Ruth C.H. Turia)Facilitating collaboration and partnerships: lessons from adaptive collaborativemanagement in the Philippines (Herlina Hartanto)

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I G L O B A L I S A T I O N ,LOCALISATION AND TROPICALF O R E S T M A N A G E M E N T :INTRODUCING THE CHALLENGE OFNEW MARKETS AND PARTNERSHIPS

This issue of ETFRN News bringstogether knowledge, experience andlessons learnt with respect to thepotentials and bottlenecks of newmarkets and partnerships which resultfrom globalisation and localisation. Thearticle below introduces the theme, whilethose of Arturo Escobar, MarcusColchester, and Melissa Leach andJames Fairhead provide a conceptualframework for the debate onpartnerships, models of dialogue,networking and the role of science.

S Introduction (Mirjam A.F. Ros-Tonen)S The need for new models of political

dialogue and interaction (Arturo Escobar)S Bridging the gap: communities, forests

and international networks (MarcusColchester)

S Does globalised science work for thepoor? Forest perspectives (MelissaLeach and James Fairhead)

INTRODUCTION

By Mirjam A.F. Ros-Tonen

Globalisation has often been considered athreat to tropical forests since it opens upmarkets and may boost international demandfor hardwood and other commodities. Somefear that free trade arrangements such asthe General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade(GATT) and the North American Free TradeAgreement (NAFTA) will give a furtherimpulse to illegal logging and the clearing offorests for large-scale export-oriented

agrobusiness firms and plantations. At thesame time, in many countries theresponsibility for forest management isbeing transferred to local authorities, whichsee new opportunities to mine the forest andgenerate new revenues. This doom scenarioleaves little room for optimism about thefuture of tropical forests.

The other side of the coin is thatglobalisation creates niche markets forenvironmental services and sustainablyproduced timber and non-timber forestproducts. These markets give an impulse tosustainable forest management and createnew opportunities for low-income producers.

Globalisation also implies a globalisation ofenvironmental concerns. In a world 'that isgrowing smaller every day' (De Ruyter,1997) actors at multiple scales find eachother in new partnerships which were hardlyimaginable in a world without internet ande-mail.

As a result of decentralisation and thedevolution of land rights to indigenouspopulations and forest users at communitylevel, the actors involved in forestmanagement are more connected to theforest resources than before. In theory, thisgreater involvement gives an incentive topreserve the forest and manage itsustainably.

Thus, in contrast with the doom scenariooutlined above, there is also scope foroptimism with regard to the prospects forresponsible forest management in aglobalising world where rights to controlforest resources are increasingly beingdevolved to forest users.

This issue of ETFRN News brings togetherknowledge, experience and lessons learntwith respect to the potentials andbottlenecks of new markets and


ETFRN News 39-40/038

partnerships resulting from globalisation andlocalisation processes. The papers in thisissue (most of which will be presented at thecongress on 'Globalisation, localisation andtropical forest management in the 21stcentury') are categorised according to eightsub-themes related to markets and tomulti-scale partnerships.The potential of responsible tradeSeveral tools exist to enhance sustainableforest production through the market. Suchmarket-related incentives include:S payments for ecosystem services, such

as carbon sequestration, watershedprotection and biodiversity conservation(Part II);

S commercialisation of non-timber forestproducts in international markets, oftenwith the twin aim of promoting forestconservation and livelihood improvement(Part III);

S strategies to combat illegal logging (PartIV); and

S the certification of forest products (PartV).

These market-related incentives have incommon that they seek ways to competewith more lucrative, but also moredestructive land uses, with the aim tocontribute to forest conservation, sustainableforest use or improved livelihoods for thepoor in tropical forest areas. Suchmarket-related strategies often involve newpartnerships between international, regionaland local actors, as well as supplementaryactions by the state and societal actors toevolve a supportive regulatory frameworkand 'greener' policies. Together, the contributions on this themeilluminate (i) the conditions, institutionalrequirements, policies and developmentactions required to bring about sustainableand pro-poor forest management throughinternational markets; (ii) the lessons learnt;and (iii) the implications for research.

The potential of global-local partnershipsA second aspect of forest management in aglobalised and localised environmentconcerns the change of actors involved inforest management. Instead of forestmanagement being in the hands of a singleentity, new partnerships for the protectionand co-management of forest resourcesarise, involving international donors,government agencies, national andinternational NGOs, private sector actors,research organisations and communities.These multi-scale and multi-stakeholderpartnerships in forest management have thepotential to link global conservationobjectives with local needs, thus creatingsynergy. They do not, however, resolvepower imbalances and conflicting interests.

The papers in Part VI (on the link betweenglobal conservation objectives and localdevelopment needs) and Part VII (aboutglobal-local partnerships for sustainableforest management in Latin-America)address the question to what extent andunder what conditions multi-scalepartnerships can regulate such powerimbalances and conflicting interests andpromote democratic governance of forestresources.

Part VIII specifically deals with the impact ofdecentralisation and devolution of landrights on the emergence of new actors andpartnerships, and the effects they have onthe democracy and sustainability of forestmanagement. A common thread runningthrough all contributions related to thistheme is the conflict between central andlocal control over forest management andthe danger of overexploitation following theneed to generate revenues at local level,while the potential advantage of moredemocratic forest management has not (yet)become a reality in all cases.

In response to the processes of change, the



roles and responsibilities of groups andorganisations dealing with natural resourcemanagement are reviewed and questioned.The involvement of various (community)groups and organisations at various levels,each with their own agenda and interests,imposes special requirements on workprocesses to ensure durable agreementsand solutions. Adaptive learning, throughwhich actors develop an appreciation ofother stakeholders' interests andperceptions, and an awareness of their ownmental models, plays a specific role incollaborative management schemes. Howand under what conditions this works inpractice, and what is the potential of suchsocial learning methods to enhancepartnerships at the local and regional level,are questions addressed in the contributionsin Part IX.

General perspectivesThe newly emerging global- localpartnerships and increasing participation ofthe poor suggest that the voices of peopleliving in and around forests are increasinglyheard. Although terms such as stakeholderparticipation, partnerships and negotiationare now commonplace, the followingcontributions in this introductory part indicatethat this process of increasing localparticipation is still at risk of stagnation orreversal.Leach and Fairhead argue that such 'invited'participation often means that poor forestusers need to comply with pre-set objectivesand frames of debate. Also Arturo Escobarchallenges existing models of dialogue andnegotiation, for taking for granted modern(expert) categories of nature and socialaction such as 'management', and dealinginadequately with the often quite differentunderstanding these actors have of suchnot ions as 'nature' , ' the forest ' ,'management', 'partnership' and 'negotiation'.All authors in this section also emphasisethat, the same processes that seem to be so

promising with regard to people's decisionmaking in forest management 'may createnew divisions and possibilities of socialexclusion' (Colchester) if the problem ofunequal power relations is not addressed.According to Leach and Fairhead, sciencehas a role to play in this respect: throughparticipatory research and deliberateprocedures to involve poor forest users insetting agendas and research questions, apro-poor forestry science can be built, givingample space to the perspectives of poorforest users. With respect to this, Escobarargues that much can be learnt from thestrategies and knowledge of socialmovements and organisations.

Reference:Ruijter, A de (1997). The era ofglocalisation.. In T. van Naerssen, M.Rutten and A. Zoomers (eds.) The diversityof development. Assen: Van Gorcum.

Further information:Dr Mirjam A.F. Ros-TonenResearch Institute for Global Issues andDevelopment Studies (AGIDS), University ofAmsterdamNieuwe Prinsengracht 130, 1018 VZAmsterdam, The NetherlandsE-mail: [email protected]

THE NEED FOR NEW MODELS OFPOLIT ICAL D IALOGUE ANDINTERACTION

By Arturo Escobar

The need for alternative models of dialogueand interaction among various kinds ofactors in the environmental arena is bringincreasingly recognised. Less widelyshared, however, is the notion that socialmovement activists might be knowledgeproducers in their own right, and that the



knowledge they produce could be animportant and constructive input into thedevelopment of environmental strategies.This is the case, for instance, in a recent(1993 to 1998) biodiversity conservationproject in the Colombian Pacific rain forestregion that was in many waysunprecedented. Although conceived withinGEF guidelines and implemented by thegovernment, it became a very interesting,although difficult, process of concertación -which could be defined as negotiationtowards consensus in ways that take intoaccount power differentials among actorsinvolved. This process involved stateofficials, NGOs, experts in many branches ofnatural and social sciences and, veryimportantly, social movement activists fromthe region. The project was dismantled in1998, largely because of lack of governmentcommitment, and replaced by a moreconventional biodiversity strategy, but for atime captured the imagination of many in theregion. The knowledge and strategies oflocal social movements and organisationswere crucial in this regard.

The social movement of black rivercommunities in the Colombian PacificThe Pacific Coast region of Colombia is oneof the world's most biodiverse rain forestregions, covering about 70 000 km2. About 60% of the region's 900000 inhabitants - 800 000 Afro-Colombians,about 50,000 Embera, Waunana and otherindigenous people, and mestizo colonists -live in the few larger towns; the rest inhabitthe margins of the more than 240 rivers.Black and indigenous peoples havemaintained distinct material and culturalpractices.

In this region, a social movement of blackcommunities emerged for the defence ofnatural resources. It comprises, amongstother local actors, a network of more than140 local organisations known as Proceso de

Comunidades Negras, PCN. The PCN givesemphasis to the social control of the territoryas a precondition for the survival andstrengthening of culture and biodiversity. Inthe river communities, activists andcommunities have worked together tounderstand the meaning of the 1991constitution - which granted blackcommunities of the Pacific region collectiverights to the territories they had traditionallyoccupied - and to develop concepts ofterritory, development, traditional productionpractices and use of natural resources. Thisprocess led to drawing up a proposal for thelaw of cultural and territorial rights called forby the 1991 constitution (Ley 70, approvedin 1993), and to firming up a series ofpolitico-organisational principles relating toidentity, territory, autonomy and alternativedevelopment.

PCN activists sought to insert themselves inbiodiversity-related discussions at all levels,including the government-run ProyectoBiopacífico (PBP), which accepted the blackand indigenous movements as essentialpartners for dialogue. Of growingimpor tance was the i nc reas ingtransnationalisation of the movementthrough participation in official fora such asthe CBD and in oppositional movementsand mobilisations against neo-liberalglobalisation in various parts of the world. Atthe same time, PCN activists ran for localelections; organised locally and nationally;and sought funding for territorialdemarcation and collective titling. In thisperiod, and particularly after 1998, there hasbeen an escalation of violence in the region,some of it directed explicitly against activistsand communities to discourage them frompressing for territorial demands. Thesetensions are related to the overallintensification of development, capitalism,and modernity in the region.



The political ecology framework PCN activists developed a coherent andsophisticated framework for the defence ofthe Pacific rain forest. This framework -which I call a political ecology framework -weaves together territory, culture and localautonomy into alternative visions andstrategies of conservation, sustainability anddevelopment. In the case of the southernColombia Pacific, this framework constitutesthe single most important and visionary effortat preventing the destruction of the forestand constructing a sustainable future for it.

This does not mean that it is the onlypossible framework. Other frameworks (byexperts, academics, NGOs, the State,international organisations, etc.) also have tobe taken into account. Nevertheless, thesewill be most effective when articulated withthe concerns and views of socialmovements.

New challengesBy reviewing the case of the black movementin the Colombian Pacific and other cases tobe presented at the congress, I would like tohighlight some challenges in tropical forestmanagement in the era of globalisation,devolution of land rights and the emergenceof collective ethnic identities.

First, there is need for a renewed dialogueand integration among the natural, the social,and the human sciences in approachingissues related to the conservation andsustainable use of tropical forests. Theseparation of perspectives derived fromthese three domains continues to be apressing problem.

Secondly, there is need to come up withconcrete alternative ecological, economicand cultural strategies, projects andprogrammes. How do we rethink theeconomy from the perspective of localculture and ecology? Here we enter into the

terrain of alternative economies andeconomics. Tropical forests constitute atremendously important site for thinkingabout alternative economies, preciselybecause they embody ecological andcultural differences, from which forms ofalternative economy could be conceived.

Finally, there is the issue of models ofdialogue and interaction among disparatesocial actors converging on the tropicalforests. There is already a provisionallanguage for this dialogue, embodied interms such as 'stakeholders', 'partnerships',and 'negotiation'. However, to me thislanguage - while pointing in the rightdirection - is inadequate on several grounds:• it usually overlooks the problem of

unequal power among actors; • it deals inadequately with the often quite

different understanding these actors haveof such notions as 'nature', 'the forest','management' , 'partnership' and'negotiation';

• it takes for granted modern (expert)categories of nature and social action,such as 'management'.

As ecological anthropologists show, thereare local models of nature in existence thatdo not correspond to conventional scientificmodels. Maybe the greatest challenge is tofind an answer to the question: What are theepistemological and political conditions (thatis, in terms of knowledge and power) underwhich such a 'dialogue of modellers' couldtake place on a relatively equitable basis?

Further information:Prof. dr Arturo Escobar University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill,USAE-mail: [email protected]



BRIDGING THE GAP: COMMUNITIES,FORESTS AND INTERNATIONALNETWORKS

By Marcus Colchester

Community Forestry is seen today as vital tothe promotion of 'sustainable development' inforests. Over the past 25 years, communityforestry has transformed from being anexperimental means of providing wood-fuelfor the rural poor to a community-ledmovement demanding reform of the forestrysector. International networks to promotecommunity forestry have played a key role inthis transformation. Based on a review of tennetworks involving seven countries, arecently completed study carried out forCIFOR compiled the main lessons learnedfrom this experience in terms of advocacyeffectiveness, communications techniques,network governance, relations with donorsand linkage to social movements. Theincreasing mobilisation of community-basedorganisations means that supportive NGOsand government agencies now need to playa different role to the one they gavethemselves 25 years ago.

ImpactsThe ways that international networks havecontributed to community forestry are verydiverse. Few networks can claim to have haddirect impacts at the local level, exceptthrough a handful of pilot projects, but thenfew of the networks sought to achievechange this way. Most of the networks havefocused on providing information andservices to national level actors to raiseawareness, and build consensus, and to armthem with the information, arguments,knowledge, techniques, resources and skillsneeded to promote national and localchange. These contributions have been sovarious and diffuse, and often indirect, thatdrawing up a balance sheet of the costs and

benefits of networking is impossible. It hasbecome clear that the collective result of allthis networking has been helpful in manycountries and crucial in some others,especially those where donors also exertconsiderable influence. The gainsattributable to the networks in internationalforest policy-making are both more evidentand less certain, as for the most part thesegains have not yet discernibly influencednational policy reforms, let alone had localeffects. Not enough seems to have beendone to insert these international policygains into national reform platforms. Acumulative result of all this networking andadvocacy has been a growing globalacceptance of the validity of communityforestry. New ideas of how to promote ithave opened up space to local communitiesto reassert their rights, revalidate theirinstitutions and customs and adapt tochanging conditions.

Key lessons for networks• Consensus-building networks that seek

to include actors from communities,NGOs and government do have animportant role to play, but they need torecognise their limitations and distinguishthemselves from locally driven networksthat are run by the communityrepresentatives. Supportive NGOs mustalso take care not to substitutethemselves for local actors.

• Networks also need to recognise theinherent limitations of the networkingendeavour and not exaggerate the extentto which they are genuinely democraticand inclusive. De facto networks cannoteffectively include more than around 50individuals or organisations in routinecollective decision-making. Trust in asmaller group of leaders is essential.Every network needs to accept that thereis an inherent tension betweenmaintaining informality and flexibility andadopting structures and decision-making



processes that ensure transparency andaccountability. In choosing theirgovernance structure, networks need toweigh up the pros and cons of differentways of working and have clear reasonsfor whatever structures they choose.

• Maintaining trust and links with andbetween communities requires substantialinvestments of time and resources.Over-reliance on computers - email andthe web - for communications will excludethe effective participation of communityorganisations in many countries for theforeseeable future. Networks need tot h i n k t h r o u g h c a r e f u l l y t h e i rcommunications strategies to ensure theydo reach those they claim to include.Face-to-face meetings and exchanges,inves tment in t rans la t ion andinterpretation, and the modest use ofnewsletters as ends rather than means,have proved their worth and needadequate financing, while some of thenew technologies and techniques seemworth experimenting with further.

• In connecting to national and local levels,networks generally have relied too muchon a single national or regional focal pointfor communications: they need both toresource these partners more adequatelyso they can fulfil their onerous role andfind other, complementary means oflinking to national and local actors.

Lessons for donorsCommunity forestry and community forestrynetworking require sustained support if theyare not to wither away. More support isneeded to build up social movements andcommunity-based networks, even those thatare critical of government and aid agencypolicies. The challenge is to support thenetworks in ways that promote accountabilitywithout imposing artificial goals, targets andstructures. Support needs to be long-termand should demand less pre-programmed'outputs'. It should aim for good processes

rather than results-focused projects; forinclusive sharing and decision-making asmuch as for specific publications andpre -de te rm ined advocacy goa ls .Participatory monitoring and evaluation hasproved its worth to help networks reflect onthe extent to which they are being effectiveand are genuinely reaching those they seekto include.

ConclusionNow that participation has become a normin development discourse and evenpractice, the time has come for a muchmore critical evaluation of the form of thisp a r t i c i p a t i o n . M u l t i - s t a k e h o l d e rdecision-making, new partnerships, routineengagements with civil society all promisenew opportunities for local actors to get theirvoices heard. But there are also risks thatthese same processes are creating newdivisions and possibilities of socialexclusion. The community forestry networksand the social movements that they claim tosupport both need to be vigilant to ensurethat they engage in these processesastutely, using political space that is offeredin ways that do not legitimise unacceptablepractices or that exclude the rural poor inwhose name community forestry isadvocated.

Reference:Colchester, M., Apte, T., Laforge, M.,Mandondo, A. and Pathak, N. (2003).Bridging the Gap: Communities, Forestsand International Networks . Centre forInternational Forestry Research, Bogor. Available:http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/publications/pdf_files/CF/Synthesis.pdf

Further information:Dr Marcus Colchester, Forest PeoplesProgramme1c Fosseway Business Centre, StratfordRoadMoreton-in-Marsh GL56 9NQ, UK



E-mail: [email protected]

DOES GLOBALISED SCIENCE WORKF O R T H E P O O R ? F O R E S TPERSPECTIVES

By Melissa Leach and James Fairhead

What effects has the globalisation of scienceand policy around forests and biodiversityhad on the lives of land users in the forestsof West Africa and the Caribbean? How hasinternational policy around forests andbiodiversity influenced national movestowards greater local authority and resourcecontrol? A recently completed study of ninecases in Ghana, Guinea and Trinidad tracksthe unfolding relationships amonginternational perspectives, national researchtraditions, policy processes, media, and localknowledge and livelihood concerns. Despiteconcurrent processes of decentralisation andparticipation, local considerations are beingreinterpreted within globalised frames. Willthis lead to further impoverishment andexclusion for poorer forest users, or are thereways - through public critique and citizenscience - to counter these trends?

Science and policy processesThe perspectives and values that frameinternational scientific and policy debatesstrongly shape national and local scienceand policy practices in all three countries.This derives in part from funding flows anddependence on international donors forforestry and biodiversity projects, sectoralbudget support and research. In this respectGuinea and Ghana are notably moredependent than Trinidad, which has strongernationally-funded institutions. However, thisinternational influence also raises widerquestions of epistemic relevance: the needfor national and local academics and policy

actors to present their work as in tune withtopics of global importance and withinternational best practice. This applies inTrinidad as much as in West Africa.

International engagement also interlockswith particular national institutions and theirpolitical constituencies, with science playinginto, and at times amplifying existinginstitutional schisms and turf battles.

Yet although the international research andpolicy world revitalises national researchpractices and debates, it tends to cast thesewithin a globalised, universal, rather than anational or local frame and transforms theirmeaning in the process. Rather thanconsider the centralising and decentralisingforces in science and policy processes ascontradictory, then, it is evident that thelatter can extend the influence of the former.

The need for true participationParticipation has become central to forestryand biodiversity planning amongstgovernments, donor agencies and NGOsalike, in national consultations as much aslocal projects. However in practice, such'invited' participation frequently is merely aninvitation to comply with pre-set objectiveswithin frames of debate that obscure theexperiences, perspectives and political andmaterial interests of poorer forest users.

Several problems result as the values andexperiences of land users are eclipsed. • First, interventions can be justified that

are inappropriate to local circumstances,reducing local resource control andworsening poverty.

• Second, forest management continues torest on particular ideas of nature asseparate from society, and as stable andpredictable. By obscuring historicalexperiences that reveal both theintertwining of ecological and socialprocesses and the non-equilibrium forces



shaping environments (e.g. in climatehistory), forest management may pursueillusory goals and miss opportunities toadapt to emergent trends.

• Third, science and policy debatescontinue to invoke and reproduceparticular ideas of society, includingpositive social categories (e.g. 'traditional'hunter, 'modern' environmentally literatecitizen) and negative ones (e.g. squatter,charcoal-maker, slash-and-burn farmer,poacher, drug grower). Such caricaturescontribute to simplified stories, andinfluence who gains and loses fromintervention. They also shape andsharpen social fault lines that have astrong bearing on processes ofgovernance and social change. As suchcategories become globalised, there isless opportunity for clashes of values tobe negotiated locally.

The role of mass mediaMass media and education institutions areclosely integrated with international scienceand policy institutions and processes. Theinstitutional practices and narrative styles inmedia and education (and the popularculture they inform) amplify and reinforcedominant policy framings, narratives andsocial categorisations. This is as true in WestAfrica, where media and education aredirected to reforming the perpetrators of ruralenvironmental problems, as in Trinidad,where it creates more environmental literacyamong urban-based and other populationsless dependent on forest livelihoods. Whilemedia can help create a mutually supportivefield of messages, in Trinidad, they have alsobeen an important vehicle for publiccontestation of both policy and science.

Whatever the direct effects that internationalagreements and deliberations may have, it isimportant to recognise their indirect effects inshaping scientific and policy communities.The institutionalised aspects of these

agreements are only a small part of a muchmore extensive field of transformation. Theyalter the questions that are posed about theenvironment, and influence the socialcategories through which it is understood,serving to naturalise and stabilise them.

Building pro-poor forest scienceHow can poorer forest users genuinelyshape forestry and conservation agendas inan increasingly globalised world of scienceand policy? Through strengtheningparticipation not just in policy but also inscience, and here there is a role forparticipatory research strategies anddeliberative procedures in which poorerforest users help to set agendas andquestions. To be effective, however, suchprocedures need to be opened up to adiversity of problem-framings, and to payparticular attention to the inclusion of thosesocial groups delegitimised by conventional,globalised analytics.

Broader means for forest users'perspectives to influence science and policyare also important. These include promotingaspects of political and legal culture thatenable critique, building citizen scientificconfidence and skills, and making space forpeople's own science, knowledge andinterests to shape and inform research andpolicy debates. Media and educationalstrategies could be directed to makingexplicit the evidence, values, anduncertainties underlying particular scientificand policy positions, enhancing andempowering public capacity to critique andengage in scientific and policy debate.

To balance the dependence of national andlocal research on the international agendasand values that are shaping them, donorsupport for independent, critical researchwithin national and local institutions isneeded. This could enhance capacity torespond to and engage with forest user's



own agendas, and help build alternativediscourse coalitions to promote theperspectives of the poor - perhaps linkinguniversity researchers, NGOs and citizens'groups. At the same time, buildingbetter-informed and more reflexiveinternational scientific and policy processesis important, requiring new procedures thatallow perspectives from local settings to feedinto and shape the terms of debate.

Reference:Fairhead, J. and M. Leach (2003) Science,society and power: environmental knowledgeand policy in West Africa and the Caribbean.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Further information:Prof. Dr Melissa LeachInstitute of Development StudiesBN1 9RE Brighton, UKE-mail: [email protected]

II THE FEASIBILITY OF PAYMENTS FORECOSYSTEM SERVICES

One of the greatest challenges facing theforest sector today is to reconcile theconflicting demands of differentstakeholders for the many goods andservices, forests provide. Besides being avaluable source of timber and non-timberproducts, forests offer importantenvironmental services such aswatershed protection, biodiversityconservation and carbon sequestrationthat help sustain life on Earth. Hardly everdo beneficiaries pay for the services theyreceive, resulting in low incentives toconserve forests. The implementation ofpayments systems for ecosystem servicessupports the recognition of the trueeconomic value of forests. Globalisation

provides opportunities for suchmarket-based incentives for forestconservation and income generation forthe communities that manage the forests.The following contributions provide someexamples - with the lessons learnt, thepitfalls and dead ends.

S Developing synergies between carbonsinks and sustainable developmentthrough forest certification (CatrinusJepma)

S Carbon as a non-timber forest product(Margaret M. Skutsch)

S Towards socially and environmentallyfriendly carbon sequestration: learningfrom pilot projects in Bolivia and Brazil(Peter May, Emily Boyd, Fernando Veigaand Manyu Chang)

S Leakage in CDM projects: are forest andenergy projects equally troubled? (ArildAngelsen, Jens Aune, Stein Holden andSolveig Glomsrød)

S Economic valuation of the local and globalvalue of tropical forest: a comparisonbetween the Leuser National Park(Indonesia) and the Iwokrama forest(Guyana) (Pieter van Beukering)

DEVELOPING SYNERGIES BETWEENCARBON SINKS AND SUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENT THROUGH FORESTCERTIFICATION

By Catrinus Jepma

The Kyoto Protocol contains a greenhousegas emission limitation and a reductioncommitment for industrialised countries(Annex 1 parties) which can be achievedthrough measures that reduce greenhousegas emissions and through activitiesenhancing sinks. Forestry projects in the formof reforestation and afforestation are now



included in the project cooperation betweenindustrialised and developing countries underthe Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

During the past decade, and quite unrelated tothe Kyoto Protocol, certification systems forforest management and a chain-of-custody forcertified forest and timber products have beenintroduced based on a set of forestmanagement principles, guidelines, criteriaand standards. The question is: is there scope for synergiesbetween enhancing carbon sinks andsustainable forest management through forestcertification?

With respect to these synergies the followingpoints are to be considered:

1. The degree to which synergy can beachieved between forest managementcertification and sinks certification depends ona number of factors such as the accountingframework under which the activity will bereported (as specified in various articles of theKyoto Protocol), the type of forestry activity,the level of measurement, the scope and timehorizon implicit in the implementation of theinstruments (a short-term vs. a long-term orinfinite time horizon) and the cost ofimplementation at the management unit level.

2. Trade-offs between the main criteriarelevant for forest management certificationand the criteria used only for the assessmentof sink activities can emerge under manycircumstances. Such trade-offs can only bedealt with if the responsibilities for theimplementation are defined clearly and if clearrules are established on how to resolve anyconflict between the forest managementcertification and sink targets withoutcompromising the aims of both schemes.

3. Both practices could conceivably bedeveloped in more detail on the basis ofprivate initiatives in accordance, or otherwise,

with a formal framework such as the UNFramework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol. Theratification of the Protocol may lead to theissue of forest management certification beingrelevant to various of its sink aspects .

4. As far as the role of sinks under the JointImplementation (JI) is concerned, it is yet tobe understood if and how sinks-relatedEmission Reduction Units (ERUs) wouldmake use of forest management certificationand what the decision-making structures onthat issue would be. Both UNFCCC and theKyoto Protocol refer to sustainabledevelopment. This would suggest thatsustainability criteria might be necessarywhen considering sinks activities under the JI.We should keep in mind that neither sinks norforest management certification automaticallycontribute to sustainable forest management.

5. Processes which try to enhance thecompatibility between, and integratedimplementation of, forest managementcertification and sinks certification may becomplicated by the fact that the first isessentially is a voluntary, market-driveninstrument, whereas the second is ultimatelyan official government instrument, albeitcomplemented with private sector exercisesoutside the Kyoto Protocol.

6. At the implementation level, theaccumulated experience from forestmanagement accreditation and certificationand verification programmes may provideuseful lessons for developing andimplementing sink accounting procedures.Conversely, work on sink-related issues suchas permanence and uncertainty, projectboundaries and leakage, as well as baselines,may provide useful insights into the furtherdevelopment and cost-effectiveness of forestmanagement certification.

7. Finding synergies between forest inventory



and management planning, forestmanagement accreditation, certification andverification procedures on the one hand andcomparable sinks procedures on the othermay be useful especially in case of forestareas which are considered for bothprocesses. Such synergies may help toovercome a lack of economies of scale insmall parcels of land.

8. The voluntary implementation of forestmanagement certification may enhance sinksby setting up technical capacities formeasurement, management plans consistentwith the goal of sustainable development,familiarity with relevant concepts anddefinitions, as well as independent verificationvariables. All these factors may make it easierand less costly for the forest owner to berewarded for carbon sequestration as well.

9. Areas of potential synergies betweencertification of forest management and carbonsequestration that need to be explored, mayinclude:• Whether common methodologies,

definitions and concepts can bedeveloped.

• The building of capacity which is requiredfor both instruments.

• Whether forest management certificationand other management tools couldcontribute towards the preparation ofaccurate inventories through the provisionof data relating to land-use changes andchanges in the growing stock.

• Whether forest management certification,if further developed, may verify theimplementation of measures or a lack ofthose, both positive and negative, thataffect sinks.

• Whether auditing procedures could becomplementary to forest management andsinks certification even if both instrumentsrequire separate protocols andaccreditation.

• Whether general procedures of existing

accreditation bodies (e.g. for ISO 9000and 14000 series standards) could beapplicable to sinks validation, verificationand certification systems after havingbeen augmented to deal specifically withsink projects.

• How group certification may reducebarriers (e.g. costs) for individual (small)forest owners to implement forestmanagement certification schemes andfacilitate the implementation of (bundled)sinks activities.

• Whether and to what extent any sinkscredit return may provide additionalfinancial support to the private sector foralso implementing forest managementschemes (e.g. cap management), or thereverse, where forest managementcertification may give added value andmarketing advantages to carbonsequestration.

There is certainly some scope for synergybetween forest management and carbonsequestration certification. Many questions atboth the conceptual and implementation levelneed to be addressed however. One suchquestion is whether alternative, simpler andmore effective procedures can be developedto meet the goals of the Kyoto Protocol, forinstance by not seeking to combine forest andcarbon certification.

Further information:Prof. Dr Catrinus JepmaInternational Economics & BusinessDepartment, University of Groningen andFaculty of Economics and Econometrics,University of AmsterdamP.O. Box 800, 9700 AV, GroningenThe NetherlandsE-mail: [email protected]



CARBON AS A NON-TIMBER FORESTPRODUCT

By Margaret M. Skutsch

Under the Kyoto Protocol, forestry is permittedas a sink measure under the CleanDevelopment Mechanism (CDM), but only inthe form of 'afforestation' and 'reforestation'.These two forms are essentially plantationsystems which, although cost effective interms of carbon sequestration are in mostcases not very beneficial to local populations,who depend on existing and bio-diverseforests for a large number of products. Manycommuni t ies , however , t rans formunsustainable forest management practices(processes of degradation) to sustainablemanagement under a variety of programmesunrelated to climate change policy. Examplesinclude the Joint Forest Managementprogramme in India, Forest User Groups inNepal and community forest management inWest Africa. This change to sustainablemanagement has a two-way effect as regardscarbon saving: it increases the sink capacity ofthe forest and, where harvested for firewood,it provides a perpetual renewable energysource. This form of forest management is,however, not recognised under the Kyotoarrangements.

UncertaintiesOne of the reasons for not recognising the sinkcapacity of community-based managementinitiatives under the Kyoto Protocol isundoubtedly the difficulty of measuring thecarbon saved and various uncertainties suchas leakage and permanence. There are strictrules about how carbon saved can bemeasured and rigorous data will certainly be aprerequisite if such projects are to be acceptedas 'climate' projects in the future, so thatcommunities may access funds for them underKyoto. However, the cost of employingprofessional scientific methods to gather and

process such data (the so-called 'transactioncosts') are likely to be prohibitive, meaningthat any financial gains by the community asa result of 'selling' their carbon, will be wipedout. The trick is then to find techniques whichcan, at least, partially be carried out by thecommunities themselves at much lower costand also to demonstrate that these are asreliable as 'expert' methods.

The utility of GPS/GIS devicesA research project, sponsored by DGIS, isbeing carried out by the University of Twente(the Netherlands), ITC and three regionalresearch institutes (in Nepal, Tanzania andSenegal) to test the use of handheldGPS/GIS devices in conjunction with wideangle photography, as well as relatedmethods used by local communities that arealready engaged in sustainable communityforest management schemes. The researchinstitutes are working with local organisationsinvolved in community forest managementactivities in ten countries. The purpose of theresearch is to demonstrate that suchcommunities can make reliable assessmentsof the increased sink values of their forest andmonitor this over an extended time period.Hopefully, data gathered in this way will alsobe acceptable to international bodiesresponsible for verifying carbon offsets. If thisobjective can be realised, the forest-basedlivelihoods of these communities may besupplemented through the 'sale' of theircarbon savings.

Further information:Dr Margaret M. SkutschTechnology and Development Group,University of TwentePO Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, theNetherlandsE-mail: [email protected]



T O W A R D S S O C I A L L Y A N DENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLYCARBON: LEARNING FROM PILOTPROJECTS IN BOLIVIA AND BRAZIL

By Peter H. May, Emily Boyd, Fernando Veigaand Manyu Chang

The potential for regulatory measures tosucceed in abating deforestation andprotecting the environmental services thatforests provide, such as carbon sequestration,have been limited. In response, innovativeapproaches to conservation and carbonsequestration are emerging among civil societyand producer organisations in many parts ofLatin America. Yet, the use of markets forglobal environmental services and their role ingenerating local sustainable developmentbenefits remains a contentious issue, with littlein-depth micro-level research into the impactsof market incentives on small or marginalisedcommunities.

The Clean Development MechanismCarbon sequestration projects aim to generatecarbon credits based on Article 12 of the CleanDevelopment Mechanism (CDM) of the KyotoProtocol benefiting their executors, theirfinanciers, as well as global society. The CDMis one of the Protocol's so-called flexibilitymechanisms. Article 12 foresees that anAnnex 1 country (developed countries andeconomies in transition) can acquire carboncredits generated through projects developedin non-Annex 1 countries (developingcountries) to abate part of their greenhousegas emissions reductions commitments ratifiedin the Kyoto Protocol. A key tenet to the CDMis that projects must contribute to thesustainable development of host countriesaccording to national sustainable developmentcriteria. In Brazil and Bolivia, as in mostdeveloping nations, these criteria are still beingdefined. However, discussions on definingthese criteria are already taking place within

government institutions, with someparticipation by academic groups andnon-governmental organisations.

Four case studiesWe set up a research project aimed atexploring the extent to which carbonsequestration projects may actually contributeto national sustainable development assuggested by global policy and with a view tosuggesting avenues for project design andimplementation to pro-actively enhance localbenefits. More specifically, the study aims toassess the soc io-economic andenvironmental impacts of three of the principalpilot carbon sequestration projects underwayin Brazil (Plantar, Peugeot and Bananal) andone (Noel Kempff) in Bolivia. Two of the fourprojects evaluated are predominantlycommercial, yet have different commercialobjectives in the context of their respectivesectors. The Plantar project aims to make thepig iron sector viable through internationalcarbon credits, whereas the Peugeot projectaims primarily to seek a way to counteract thenegative environmental image of the highCO2 emitting automotive manufacturingindustry. The Bananal project has more of anexperimental character in its 'social carbon'prof i le, seeking to anchor localsocio-environmental development with carbongeneration. The Noel Kempff project in Boliviastands out in its approach to carbon retentionin the tropical forest by buying back loggingconcessions and by promoting alternativeactivities to forest encroachment by localcommunities. This project is one of the oldest,largest and well-known existing forest carbonprojects.

MetamorphosisA common feature shared by all pilot carbonprojects in Brazil and by the Noel Kempffproject in Bolivia, is the fact that although allbegan with defined objectives, they havemetamorphosed both in terms of their specificobjectives and operational features. In other



words, they go through a process of adaptationas the climate regime regulations evolveinternationally and as they learn by doingthings locally. As early starters, they often runthe risk of being left out of the categoriesdefined as valid by the negotiators to theConference of Parties for carbon credits andsome are pure learning experiences.

Lessons learntIt became clear from the study thatstakeholder participation should be enhancedwhen designing, implementing and evaluatingoutcomes of projects. In the four projectsreviewed, participation by local communitymembers was found to be limited. It isnecessary to seek stakeholders' opinionsobjectively and to ensure that the projectconcept be transparent to all since itsinception. Social assessment should bepursued through participatory processes whichmay significantly affect the potential that localsocial development is generated by CDMprojects.

From the point of view of social inclusionthrough support towards local development byprojects, a key issue is the degree ofparticipation by surrounding residents in the'core business' of the commercial projects, i.e.the generation of carbon credits. Even if suchparticipation is marginal to project objectives,it may come to have a more important effecton local development than that resulting fromindirect economic spin-offs of project actions.For the communities, taking part moreeffectively as a project partner can producemany socio-economic benefits, not least ofwhich is income generation and/or access tocredit from the direct sale of environmentalservices as well as the stimulation of localcapacity to undertake new projects.

Forest carbon projects, like some agriculturalcommodities, depend on a reasonableminimum area to guarantee profitability. Due tothe considerable transaction costs, particularly

those incurred in negotiating contracts,carbon monitoring, carbon creditcommercialisation and technical assistancefor the implantation of technical operations,large areas are typically necessary toamortise these costs. From a socialperspective, this requirement would contributeto a new source of rural land concentration. Inthis sense, the carbon market would repeatthe same process that occurred with otheragricultural commodities in Brazil, such ascoffee, sugarcane and eucalyptus. One wayto avoid this reconcentration process is toinvolve local community members from theoutset as partners in the undertaking, throughoutgrower activities, similar to contractplantations used in many forest enterprisesthe world over.

Further information:Prof. Dr Peter H. May - project coordinator:[email protected] Boyd: [email protected] Veiga: [email protected] Chang: [email protected]

LEAKAGE IN CDM PROJECTS: AREFOREST AND ENERGY PROJECTSEQUALLY TROUBLED?

By Arild Angelsen, Jens Aune, Stein Holdenand Solveig Glomsrød

What are the properties of land-use changeand forest projects versus energy projects inthe context of the Clean DevelopmentMechanism (CDM), and what are theleakages associated with such projects whenthe project boundaries are widened? We seekto answer these questions by simulating farmhousehold adaptation to a carbonsequestration premium in Ethiopia and bythen comparing the results with work doneearlier on leakage in energy projects in China

LINKING SMALL FOREST STAKEHOLDERS WITH GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CONVENTIONS : THE ROLE OF UMBRELLA PROJECTS

By Bruno Locatelli, Jaime Black and Lucio Pedroni

Global environmental conventions may encourage sustainable forest management practices, with positive socioeconomic and environmental impacts, such as biodiversity conservation or climate change mitigation by carbon sequestration. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol created two new instruments that may provide incentives to tropical forestry activities. This first one is the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which allows forestry projects in developing countries to sell carbon credits to industrialised countries, proportionally to their additional sequestration above a baseline. The second one is related to the Adaptation Funds of the UNFCCC. Although its scope is not yet well defined, some forestry activities such as forest conservation or forest landscape restoration in degraded watersheds may be considered as adaptation measures. In Bonn (2000) and Marrakech (2001) the Conference of the Parties on the UNFCCC decided to restrict the eligibility of forestry project activities in the CDM to afforestation and reforestation. At the next Conference of Parties in Italy (November 2003), the modalities and rules for this type of project activities will finally be specified. However, an analysis of the draft decisions on modalities and rules and of the future carbon market shows that the complexity of the rules and the transaction costs of generating carbon credits may prevent small projects to benefit from the CDM (Locatelli and Pedroni, 2003). The question of project scale is relevant from a least three points of view: equity, as small community forestry projects and entire small countries may be excluded from the CDM; impacts on local development and environment, including on biodiversity, as large projects are believed to be more prone to negative impacts; and leakage, as large projects may inundate local or regional forest product markets thus lowering prices and discouraging other plantation initiatives. The umbrella framework If the international negotiations do not agree on specific rules for small projects, rewarding the environmental service of carbon sequestration by small stakeholders will become possible only through umbrella projects. This type of project framework considers a national or local organisation dealing with the international carbon market and managing at the same time many small plantation projects. The advantages of this institutional setting is not only that small stakeholders can participate to the CDM, but also that other environmental services, such as watershed protection and biodiversity, and forest products may be traded locally and internationally (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Umbrella project framework

Carbon market

INSTITUTION

Small stakeholders

Small stakeholders

Small stakeholders

CDM rules andtransaction costs

Internal rules andtransaction costs

Funding for other environmental services

The advantages of umbrella projects are not without prerequisites that must be analysed since the project design phase. Among these are the following: • The organisation must be able to manage a number of small projects without increasing the transaction costs too

much. This requires strong organisation and management, and a good knowledge of the local context. • A loan or incentive that is sufficiently attractive for the small stakeholders must be dispensed and at the same time

must ensure the financial equilibrium of the whole project. • The organisation must guarantee the long-term commitment of its small stakeholders through contracts. For example,

the reimbursement of the loan can be done through a transfer of the right to sell carbon credits to the organisation, or through a project-specific value assigned to the ton of carbon stored in the forest of the project participants benefiting from the loan.

• The organisation requires to have at its disposal a sufficient buffer of areas in its own hands or in those of potential future stakeholders in which new forests can be planted for replacing carbon stocks that might disappear in the future because of fires, pests, harvest or farmers that decided to quit the project. This would ensure a permanent carbon storage. As the non-permanence issue represents a strong disadvantage of using forestry projects instead of energy projects for the mitigation of climate change, umbrella projects may be able to prove that carbon storage in forests can be long-term if not permanent.

Examples from Costa Rica Some existing organisations may serve as examples for developing such an umbrella framework. In Costa Rica, the National Fund for Forest Financing (FONAFIFO or Fondo Nacional para el Financiamiento Forestal) pays for environmental services provided by a forest owner through a legally established mechanism called PSA (Pago por Servicios Ambientales or Payment for Environmental Services). This instrument considers four environmental services (carbon storage, biodiversity and watershed protection, and scenic beauty) which are paid to three types of activities: forest conservation, forest plantation and agroforestry. At the local level, some organisations (like FUNDECOR) help small stakeholder to access to this instrument and provide technical advice.

The concrete experience of Costa Rica and of other countries may be useful for investigating umbrella project set-ups in particular regarding institutional aspects and internal transaction costs. Another important aspect of a research on umbrella projects would be to investigate farmer’s perceptions and decision making about such projects. Finally, the viability of umbrella projects strongly depends on international carbon prices, certification procedures and quality attributes that shall be explicitly or implicitly attached to carbon credits. Exploring these complex interactions between local stakeholder behaviour, attributes of the umbrella organisation and international carbon market requires the development of models and simulation tools that might support the design and management of these projects.

Reference: Locatelli, B. and Pedroni, L. (2003). Accounting methods for carbon credits: impacts on the minimum size of CDM forestry projects. Working Paper, Global Change Group, CATIE, Turrialba, Costa Rica. Further information: Global Change Group, CATIE Costa Rica Turrialba 7170, Costa Rica, E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]



and elsewhere. The results challenge awidespread view that carbon leakage fromenergy projects in developing countries ismoderate and lower than land-use and forestryprojects.

Our model simulates a coordinated adjustmentof farm production and consumption followinga CDM-induced change in economicincentives. The carbon cycle andsequestration of carbon associated withdifferent farm activities is explicitly modelled.Household energy use is included in thecarbon cycle, along with different land uses,farming practices and consumption activities.

As a result, the efficiency of carbonsequestration and the resulting farm earningsin the hypothetical CDM project can be traced.The leakage effects will be discussed basedon the gap between the on-farm response tothe carbon premium and the resourcesavailable within the farm boundaries.

Possible off-farm effects are also reviewed. Inthe event of tree planting being stimulated andthe associated products such as firewood orpoles competing directly with products fromnatural forests, the leakage can even benegative. Generally, the leakage will dependboth on the product and labour marketcharacteristics and the effects in some stylisedcases are discussed.

We compare the potential leakage in theland-use change project in relation to empiricalstudies of leakage in energy-related CDMprojects in developing countries. Empiricalevidence from China indicates substantialcarbon leakages in energy projects. Wediscuss the relevance of these results for CDMprojects in developing countries and theirpossible implications for an improved design ofCDM projects in poor rural economies.

Further information:Dr Arild Angelsen ([email protected])

and Stein Holden ([email protected]),Dept. of Economics and Social Sciences,Agricultural University of Norway PO Box 5033 N-1432 Ås NorwayDr Jens Aune (jens,[email protected]),See address above.Dr Solveig Glomsrød ([email protected]) Statistics Norway Kongens gt. 6 N-0033 Oslo Norway

ECONOMIC VALUATION OF THELOCAL AND GLOBAL VALUE OFT R O P I C A L F O R E S T S : ACOMPARISON BETWEEN THEL E U S E R N A T I O N A L P A R K(INDONESIA) AND THE IWOKRAMAFOREST (GUYANA)

By Pieter van Beukering

Policymakers at various levels increasinglyask for information on the value of goods andservices provided by tropical forests. Theyincreasingly learn that deterioration of tropicalforests does not pay off in the longer term.Local and national policymakers arebeginning to agree that the value of naturalresources depends not only on the marketprices of its direct uses, but also on all otherfunctions of the natural resources thatgenerate value in its broadest sense.Especially now that policy discussions areaimed at a better understanding of these'hidden values', there is a need for thedevelopment of new simple tools to come toa 'fuller' valuation of these scarce resourcesand to make better decisions. A methodcentral to this effort is 'economic valuation'.



Economic valuation in international natureconservationTwo case studies carried out in differentregions - the Leuser National Park in Sumatra,Indonesia and the Iwokrama Forest in Guyana- are illustrative of the possibilities andlimitations of using economic valuation indesigning international nature conservation.We can explain the conceptual role ofvaluation by determining the economic benefitsof tropical rain forest at various scale levels insociety. The concept of benefit transfer canassist in applying economic values of anexisting study to other areas or situations. Toillustrate this aspect of economic valuation andto explain the danger of applying benefittransfer in a too simplified manner, wecompare and analyse the results of both casestudies.

The need for different approachesIt is shown that, because of the highpopulation density and subsequent importanceof indirect use values, the efforts in the LeuserNational Park should mainly focus onprotecting the Leuser Ecosystem againstencroachment and illegal logging. If theecological integrity cannot be maintained, thenegative economic consequences in terms ofloss of water supply and increased floodingand drought events can be enormous. Most ofthe benefits are already operational, despitethe fact that they may be 'hidden'. InIwokrama, an opposite movement must be setin motion. Rather than franticly protecting theforest, sustainable ways should be found tomaterialise the potential values present in theforest. To realise this, a central organisation isrequired to take the initiative and establish thelink between local supply and global demandfor the ecological functions of the Iwokramaforest. Without the presence of the IwokramaCentre, it is quite unlikely that different types offoreign grants and investments such as carboncredits, bioprospecting and conservationgrants would be made.

Further information:Dr Pieter van BeukeringInstitute for Environmental Studies Vrije UniversiteitBoelelaan 1087 1018HV Amsterdam The NetherlandsE-mail: [email protected]

III OPPORTUNITIES FOR FORESTMARKETS TO BENEFIT LOCALLOW-INCOME PRODUCERS

Both globalisation and localisation createnew market opportunities for low-incomeproducers in tropical forest areas.Globalising markets and environmentalconcerns create new niche markets forcer t i f ied forest products andenvironmental services. Localisationincreases control and ownership of forestthrough the devolution of land rights toindigenous populat ions, forestcommunities and specific groups of forestusers. The demand for sociallyresponsible forestry provides an incentiveto democratic forest governance andprotected land rights (Scherr et al., 2002).The following contributions discusswhether markets for ecosystem servicesand non-timber forest products canstimulate sustainable forest managementand how, and under what conditions andpartnerships, they can benefit the poor intropical forest areas.

S Time for something different: puttingmarkets to the service of theforest-dependent poor (Sara Scherr,Andy White and David Kaimowitz)

S How can the organisational challenges tomulti-scale partnerships between forestrycompanies and local communities be



overcome? (James Mayers and SonjaVermeulen)

S The scope for improving livelihoods on thebasis of commercial non-timber forestproduction (Mirjam A.F. Ros-Tonen andFreerk Wiersum)

S Indigenous forest owners: does higherincome entail higher pressure? (HanOverman and Josefien Demmer)

S Bamboo development as a means forsustaining forest livelihoods (Herwig M.Cleuren)

S Global commodities with local value:non-timber forest product (NTFP)development in the Brazilian Amazon (KeiOtsuki)

S Corporate-community partnerships inAmazonian indigenous communities(Carla Morsello)

S First FSC-certified non-timber forestproducts available from the BrazilianAmazon (Tinde van Andel)

S New synergies in the promotion ofcocoa-based agroforestry systems in thehumid forest zone of West and CentralAfrica (Denis Sonwa, Stephan Weise andMarc Janssens)

TIME FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT:PUTTING MARKETS TO THE SERVICEOF THE FOREST POOR

By Sara Scherr, Any White and DavidKaimowitz

Among development planners, paradigmsregarding the role forests should play in socialand economic development have changeddramatically over time. At the end of thecolonial period, what could be called thelarge-scale industrial approach dominated.T h i s w a s c h a r a c t e r i s e d b ygovernment-dominated forest industry and

markets and industrial forest concessions.This model persists in many countries today,although it has been under increasing attackbecause of the numerous social,environmental and economic costs ofpublic-led and subsidised industry andbecause of the widespread failure torecognise indigenous and other communityrights.

Addressing conservation and rural povertyPublic reactions to forest conversion anddegradation in the 1970s and 1980s led to theestablishment of new public protected areas,along models from developed countries whererural populations are now low. Growingconcerns about rural poverty led to the 'socialforestry' approach in the 1980s and 1990swhich focused on forests as 'safety nets' forlow-income forest dwellers and emphasisedaccess to forest resources for the poor tomeet their subsistence needs. A variant onthis approach, the integrated conservationand development approach, developed in thelate 1980s to address both conservation anddevelopment goals and encouraged localpeople to adopt livelihoods that do notdamage the, usually publicly-owned, forest.

Whose right?By and large, these approaches have failed toreduce forest degradation or poverty on asignificant scale. All have embodied theassumption that outsiders, rather than localindigenous and other communities, have theright to decide who benefits and that outsidersrather than locals have the right to control useand arrange markets to suit their interests.Moreover, all have assumed that national andglobal goals of supplying timber and otherforest product demands and achievingadequate conservation can be achievedwithout active management by local people.Indeed, the many ongoing struggles by localgroups to gain recognition of their rights andmarket their forest products, suggest that it istime to take a fresh look at the role of forests



in development and address the question ofwho has the right to benefit from forests.

Market opportunitiesContrary to having a purely subsistencerelationship with forests, most of the 500million or so low-income people living in andaround forests are already integrated intomarket systems, although they are usuallypoorly served by them. A growing body ofresearch is revealing that not only are theforest poor active in markets but that forestmarkets provide real opportunities forsubstantial income gains and that the marketsegments where the poor are active are large,are growing and are globally significant.Unfortunately though, these opportunities aresharply limited by policies and marketstructures established by outsiders, whopresume that they have the right, as well asthe authority, to determine who should benefitfrom the world's forests.

A new publication by Forest Trends (Scherr etal., 2003) describes opportunities to achieveboth conservation and poverty alleviation goals(goals that are held by local, national andinternational groups), presents a new agendafor achieving these goals and calls for new andheightened attention by development planners,industry, conservation groups andgovernments, as well as groups of low-incomeproducers. The publication will be available onthe Forest Trends and CIFOR websites inJune 2003.

Reference:Scherr, S., White, A. and Kaimowitz, D.(2003). A new agenda for achieving forestconservation and poverty alleviation: makingmarkets work for low-income producers.Washington: Forest Trends / Bogor: CIFOR.

Further information:h t t p : / / w w w . f o r e s t t r e n d s . o r g a n dhttp://www.cgiar.org/cifor

HOW CAN THE ORGANISATIONALCHALLENGES TO MULTI-SCALEP A R T N E R S H I P S B E T W E E NFORESTRY COMPANIES AND LOCALCOMMUNITIES BE OVERCOME?

By James Mayers and Sonja Vermeulen

The international wood fibre industry isincreasingly driven by market globalisationand demands for decentralisation anddemocratic local-level governance.Partnerships between multi-national forestrycompanies and local community groups orindividuals are emerging as a response tothese forces. An international review of thewide variety of partnerships, deals andinformal arrangements between forestrycompanies and community partners,coordinated by the International Institute forEnvironment and Development (IIED) andcovering over 50 cases in 22 countries, hasidentified successes and sticking points. Afew of the key challenges encountered by theprivate sector and local actors in workingtogether are highlighted in this article.

Complexity and transaction costs: rigidversus flexible modelsOne of the biggest hurdles for companies ishow to deal with a large number of scatteredfarmers or groups - not only how to collect ordistribute raw materials and productsefficiently, but also how to negotiate,determine roles, reach agreements, establishcost-benefit sharing mechanisms (with groupsand within groups) and continually review thearrangements. Communities suffer fromsimilar problems of scale that besetcompanies. As individuals they have a limitedability to negotiate efficiently and effectively,or to access affordable services such astransport.

Companies tend to favour simple, replicable



models for dealing with transaction costs,based on standardised contracts and a clearlydelimited set of extension services andchannels for communication. The simplicity initself may be an asset in attracting farmers andcommunities, but may also be at the expenseof the flexibility required to make deals suitlocal circumstances and bring benefits to locallivelihoods. More effective company strategiesdevolve power and budgets to local staff, whilemaintaining core principles of partnerships - a'loose-tight' model of management. Forcommunities, the key solution is to creategroups, cooperatives and other alliances. Evensmall associations can improve efficiencysignificantly, as cooperatives of womenoutgrowers have discovered in South Africa.Locally based, smaller organisations may offerbetter services to communities: Indianoutgrowers have found that cooperative banksprocess loans much more quickly than thebigger commercial banks. Third parties canalso be crucial in spreading the costs oftransaction. Government forest bureaux inChina, for example, play a useful brokeragerole between groups of farmers andmultinational forestry companies.

Uncertainty - how to cope with risksForestry is a long-term and uncertain businessand dependence on a partner adds anotherelement of risk. The typical business approachof coping with risk, through financial insurance,is an ingredient that is missing fromcompany-community deals becausesmall-scale farmers are unable to secureinsurance policies. Internationally there is atremendous untapped opportunity for theinsurance sector, particularly smaller localcompanies, to find a niche as a serviceprovider to company-community forestrycollaborations. Small-scale farmers andcommunity groups could also benefit fromusing growers' associations or other groups toprovide an attractive business option foragricultural insurance companies.

Risk mitigation can also be built into thecontractual arrangements between companyand community. The capability to resolveuncertainty and cope with risks may beimproved where schemes are introduced inphases, rather than using a bandwagonapproach, and where both sides keepambitions simple at first, within a learningcycle philosophy. Outgrower schemes inIndonesia and Australia have benefited fromthe renegotiation of contracts as marketconditions have changed. A similar degree offlexibility can be built into the more technicalaspects of tree-growing partnerships in orderto reduce associated risks. One problem inSouth Africa has been outgrowers harvestingimmature trees and thus losing out on profits,simply because they panic about mountingdebts to the partner company. A solution tothis is to design farming systems to includeearly revenues from trimming trees, partialharvesting or intercropping.

Single or mixed production systems?Company-community deals need to considerthe trade-offs between forest goods andservices and between forestry and other landuses. Local groups seek multiple benefitsfrom forests for different purposes. Emphasison single commodities in forest areas hashistorically been associated with communitydisenfranchisement and poverty after a shortboom. Simple forestry models, as opposed toaccommodating mixed land use, mayprejudice against local livelihoods byencouraging broad-scale transformation ofrural landscapes to forestry, and a type offorestry based on single species and singleproducts. When markets are dominated bythe economies of scale, farm-forest systemsare unlikely to be recognised and profitable.

Under pressure from community partners,some companies have conceded better termsfor multi-purpose forest management inagreements with outgrowers and tenantfarmers. In South Africa, companies have



found that intercropping with legumes in thefirst two years not only gives growers earlyincome, but also improves soil fertility. Wheremarkets for raw materials are morecompetitive, as in India, small-scale producersof wood fibre are not controlled by minimumareas under trees and are able to divide farmland among multiple uses, sometimesconfining trees to small strips along fieldboundaries.

Both companies and communities canconsider activities other than tree growing.Secondary processing is generally moreprofitable than production, for instance, andemerging small-scale businesses in countriesincluding Canada, Papua New Guinea andMexico have found that forest serviceindustries, such as transport, chainsawoperations, inventory and mapping, can bevery successful options. Some non-timberforest products are highly profitable, forexample those feeding into horticulturebusiness. Other options include tourism andthe management of forests for environmentalservices for which there are emerging markets.

Further information: More information on this article can be foundin:Mayers, J. and Vermeulen, S. (2002).Company-community forestry partnerships:from raw deals to mutual gains? Instrumentsfor sustainable private sector forestry series.International Institute for Environment andDevelopment: London, United Kingdom.(http://www.earthprint.org)

Contact address:James Mayers and Sonja VermeulenForestry and Land Use Programme International Institute for Environment andDevelopment3 Endsleigh Street London WC1H 0DD United KingdomE-mail:[email protected]

[email protected]: www.iied.org

THE SCOPE FOR IMPROVINGLIVELIHOODS ON THE BASIS OFCOMMERCIAL NON-TIMBER FORESTPRODUCTION

By Mirjam A.F. Ros-Tonen and K. FreerkWiersum

Since the early 1990s, the role of non-timberforest products (NTFPs) as a catalyst forsustainable forest use and poverty alleviationof forest-dependent people has receivedincreased attention. NTFPs were expected tooffer a model of forest use which could serveas an economically competitive andsustainable alternative to logging. Onceresults became available from researchinitiated to test this assumption, it was foundthat major modifications to the originalproposition had to be made. It is nowacknowledged that NTFPs are very diverseand that the scope for NTFP exploitation isboth product and location-specific. NTFPresearch should pay more attention to theoverall livelihood strategies of people and thecontextual factors affecting them.

New propositionsBased on a review of theoretical and empiricalstudies, we assessed the potential forimproved forest-based livelihoods and theconditions under which this potential can berealised. This review demonstrates how NTFPstudies gradually evolved from a resourcefocus to a landscape and livelihood (or'resource-in-context') focus. The first studiesfocused mainly on the potential of naturalforests for NTFP extraction. In later studies,the focus extended to include the totallandscape used by local communities. As aresult it is now clear that there are more



sources of NTFPs than natural forests and thateach vegetation type has its own potential forcontributing to sustainable rural livelihoods.

The second major shift in the focus of NTFPs t u d i e s c o n c e r n s an i nc r eas edlivelihood-oriented approach to forest use andNT FP p roduc t i on , inc lud ing thesocio-economic and spatial contexts in whichlivelihoods are embedded.. This led to therecogn i t i on t ha t t he no t i on o f'forest-dependent' people needs furtherrefinement. Various categories of forest usersexist which differ in their relation to, andinterference in, the forest. Forest resourcesplay different roles in the livelihood strategiesof various user types, ranging from being asubstantial source of food, materials,medicines and equipment in relativelyundisturbed forest conditions, to sources ofsupplementary products in mixed landscapesor situations where alternative livelihoodoptions are available.

In short, two new propositions emerged inaddition to the original one concerning NTFPextraction from natural forests contributing toboth forest conservation and improvedlivelihoods:• The contribution of NTFPs to improved

livelihoods can best be assured through aprocess of gradual domestication ofNTFPs in human-modified (agro)foresttypes; and

• The way NTFPs contribute to peoples'livelihoods can best be understood bytaking livelihoods rather than NTFPs asthe central focus of study.

Prospects for improvementForest-based as well as other rural livelihoodsare undergoing rapid changes. There is agrowing tendency among forest-adjacentcommunities to seek a livelihood strategywhich combines forest-based production withfarming and off-farm activities. Theopportunities available are related to access to

urban and external markets and availableinfrastructure. These locational factors shouldbe taken into account when assessing thescope for NTFP production. Moreover,attention should be given to areas whereforests perform an important environmentalfunction and where NTFP production can bepart of a participatory, multifunctional forestmanagement strategy.

Although NTFPs may play an important role inmeeting subsistence needs and in acting asone of the scarce sources of cash income oras a safety net in emergency situations, thescope for improving people's livelihoods onthe basis of NTFPs seems to be feasible onlyif the following conditions are fulfilled:• Producers have secure tenure rights (e.g.

extractivist reserves in Brazil);• Producers can combine NTFP production

with other rewarding economic activities(farming, logging and/or off-farmemployment) to overcome seasonalityand price fluctuations;

• Products can be harvested efficientlyfrom areas where the abundance ofNTFP-producing species increased as aresult of tending, enrichment planting anddomestication;

• Products have established markets (e.g.Brazil nuts, palm heart and bamboo) orthe potential to reach promising nichemarkets (e.g. eco-tourism and fair trademarkets, 'eco-friendly' and certifiedproducts);

• Producers live in areas relatively close tourban markets;

• Producers have the capacity to add valueto the product (e.g. handicrafts, furnituremaking, or processing of food products);

• Producers are organised and maintaineffective alliances with outsiders(research and development agencies,trading organisations, researchinstitutions and NGOs) that may helpidentify new markets and potentialdonors.



To improve the prospect of NTFP production,further attention needs to be given to:• Identifying areas where people depend to

a large extent on forest resources, so thataccess to these areas can be secured inland-use planning;

• Clarifying forest laws and regulations thathinder or facilitate the commercialisationof NTFPs;

• Designing par t ic ipatory forestmanagement plans for the exploitation offorest products (including small-scaletimber products) from natural forests;

• Developing optimised production systemsin human-modified and man-madevegetation types;

• Developing processing techniques whichadd value to NTFPs;

• Searching for optimal marketing channelsand opportunities;

• Investigating options for more equitablecommercialisation patterns.

ConclusionThe increasing incorporation of rural areas intoexternal commercial networks means there issome scope for improving livelihoods on thebasis of NTFP production through the gradualdomestication of NTFP species inanthropogenic forest types as well as throughthe creation of NTFP-related jobs (e.g.specialised manufacturing and trade). Suchoptions seem to be promising, in particular inareas where forests perform essentialenvironmental functions and farmers candevelop multifunctional production systemsand in areas near urban markets where morespecialised forest-related activities arefeasible. There is, however, a need forlocation-specific research into the potential ofNTFP production and the conditions underwhich this potential can be realised. Suchresearch should consider the role of NTFPproduction in both rural livelihoods and rurallandscapes and take account of the impact ofcontextual factors which influence access to

NTFP production factors and markets.

Further information:D r M i r j a m A . F . R o s - T o n e n([email protected]), AGIDS University of Amsterdam The NetherlandsDr Freerk Wiersum ([email protected].),Dept. of Environmental Sciences Wageningen UniversityThe Netherlands

INDIGENOUS FOREST OWNERS:DOES HIGHER INCOME MEANHIGHER PRESSURE?

By Han Overman and Josefien Demmer

Trade links with external markets play acentral role in strategies that aim to mergeimproved local welfare with conservationgoals. Meanwhile, external knowledge andcommunication links increasingly lead to thelegal demarcation of indigenous territories.Quantitative information about how naturalresource use changes when indigenouspeople become wealthier and more integratedinto the market is, however, still scarce. Westudied these effects for 2.5 years in therecently approved Tawahka BiosphereReserve in the Honduran rain forest, bycomparing the economic behaviour of a rangeof households from poor and isolated towealthy and connected with the outside world,and the effect on forest plants and animals.

The field data provided quantitative insightsinto:• The extent to which the intensity of forest

use and that of other economic activitieschange with rising income andintegration.

• Changes in people's economic behaviour(specialisation, migration, investment inagricultural tools, chainsaws, shotguns,



their children's education or increasedconsumption).

• The effects of more wealth and integrationon the flora and fauna populations of theforest.

• The question of whether the recentlyapproved Biosphere Reserve is largeenough for ecologically sustainable use.

Changing forest useForest use appeared to intensify as wealthincreased (i.e. the actual value of householdassets) and integration into the market (cashtransactions with outsiders). WealthierTawahka consumed more hardwood, thatchand wildlife. However, the relationship was notlinear but instead had an inverted u-shape,with top households consuming less forestproducts than mid-range ones. In terms ofcash income from detrimental activities andagricultural area, forest use increased linearlyin a statistically significant way with wealth andintegration. We found that doubling wealthcorresponded with a 47% increase in forestcash income and 40% in agricultural area. Thefigures for the market integration level were74% and 38%. Consumption of agriculturalproducts went up by 46% when wealth ormarket integration doubled. Consumption ofcacao, rice, domesticated meat and dairyproducts increased , while that of traditionalcrops like cassava, maize and sugarcanedecreased (see Demmer and Overman, 2001for exact figures). The consumption ofindustrial products (e.g. hardware, sugar, softdrinks, coffee, cooking fat, flour) went up by38%, on average.

Woody species used for canoe building andhouse construction, such as mahogany, cedar,laurel and santa maria, and thatching leavesface more pressure when people becomewealthier or more integrated into the market.The same applies to almost all wildlife species(armadillo, collared and white-lipped peccary,tapir, deer, monkeys and larger, non-predatorybirds. The hypothesis that larger species will

be depleted first, after which people switch tosmaller species, is refuted. Time becomesmore precious and people hunt whatever theyencounter. The affordability of bullets leads toa huge increase in pressure onnon-terrestrials (monkeys, birds). For mosthouseholds, domesticated meat is tooexpensive to replace bush meat on a regularbasis.

Effects on the forestWe studied effects of wealth and marketintegration in an isolated and relatively poorvillage as well as in a more integrated andrelatively wealthy one. The rainforestsurrounding the isolated and poorer villagecontained 40% more good quality adult treesand 10% more good quality young trees thanthe forest surrounding the wealthier and moreintegrated village. Around the wealthier villagethere were clear indications that white-taileddeer, capuchin and spider monkey, collaredpeccary, crested guan and great curassowwere being over-hunted. No species waslocally depleted, though, presumably becausethere is still ample sparsely populated forestoutside the reserve for replenishment andkeeping most wildlife populations geneticallyhealthy.

Sustainable use?To gain more knowledge on sustainable use,we compared yearly human extraction withproduction rates in the forest. Contrary tocommon perception, yearly stem growth, aswell as the number of individual trees perhectare of good quality species, appearedinherently low. Adding mortality figures (98%of the trees never become 'giant'), thisexplainsthe large extraction areas.Conservative calculations show that withcurrent extraction rates and numbers offamilies the Tawahka need half of theirbiosphere for ecologically sustainable use. Itshould be noted that we optimisticallyestimated the density at 1.0 mahogany treesper hectare (dbh >10 cm), while the scant



literature available refers to 'less than one perha'. If mahogany abundance turns out to be0.5 trees per ha, then the area needed forsustainable use doubles and the Tawahka arealready at the boundaries of their territory.

This is where the global community could stepin. The sustainable production potential oftropical soils and forests is generally too low tofinance local welfare aspirations and may welllead to internal conflicts over the use ofcommunal resources. In compliance with, forexample, CO2 reduction and biodiversityobl igat ions, governments or theirrepresentative international bodies could agreeto compensate villagers for the foregonebenefits of exploiting rain forests beyondsustainable levels. The parties involved wouldhave to reach agreement on the specifics ofimplementation, but this could be a promisinglong-term management strategy because itcovers the direct interests of the stakeholders:the avoidance of national/global damage costsand biodiversity loss, the improvement of localliving standards and rain forest conservation.

Indigenous reserves may be good initiallocations to learn. If, however, governmentsendowed with tropical forest can be convincedthat nothing grows sustainably on most tropicalsoils but rainforest and that developedcountries are willing to pay competitively for itbeing left alone, there may be opportunities toconvert other, more recent forest inhabitants,into forest managers as well.

Reference:Demmer J. and Overman, H. (2001).Indigenous people conserving the rain forest?The effect of wealth and markets on theeconomic behaviour of Tawahka Amerindiansin Honduras. Tropenbos Series 19. TropenbosInternational, Wageningen, Netherlands.

Further information:Dr Han OvermanAGIDS, University of Amsterdam

Nieuwe Prinsengracht 130 1018 VZ Amsterdam The NetherlandsE-mail: [email protected]

BAMBOO SECTOR DEVELOPMENTAS A MEANS FOR SUSTAININGFOREST LIVELIHOODS

By Herwig M. Cleuren

Bamboo has always been a vital part of thelivelihood of millions of forest-dwelling peoplein tropical regions. Traditionally, bamboo isharvested in the natural forest and its use islimited to temporal constructions andlow-quality utensils prone to rapid decay.Nevertheless, resource management andtechnical improvements can convert thisfast-growing grass into a durable raw materialfor construction purposes and a wide range ofsemi-industrialised products. New industrialapplications and modern construction designhave both demonstrated bamboo's hugepotential, but the bamboo sector in China isthe only one reported to be thriving. In the last20 years China has established an integratedproduction chain of bamboo plantations,semi-processing and industrial plantsmanufacturing bamboo flooring, furniture,furnishings, charcoal and fresh bambooshoots for the domestic and export markets.

New opportunitiesThere are promising trends outside Chinawhere bamboo is being grown as a durablebuilding material and income-generatingresource for rural people. The Philippines hasa rural bamboo handicraft sector that hasbeen able to reach European and US marketsafter investments in improved designs. In ruralareas, bamboo harvesters and craftsmenacquire an important part of their income frombamboo. Moreover, in Colombia and Ecuadorgrowing bamboo on small plots is becoming a



lucrative option for smallholders and thebamboo construction sector is experiencing aboom period after years of neglect.

However, the bamboo sector is, in mostcountries, still part of the informal andbackward rural economy and seeminglyunable to grab the large potential +representedby the Chinese bamboo industry. This raisesthe question of the bottlenecks facing bamboodevelopment. Many of these inhibiting factorsare at the policy level and are additional to alack of knowledge among the importantstakeholders and a widespread stigma ofbamboo as a poor man's timber. Convincingand informing users and policymakers ofbamboo's versatility may fit in with a strategyof poverty alleviation and reducing pressure ontropical forests. Smallholders at the forestfringe can, in particular, improve theirlivelihood by processing bamboo or growing itin their backyard. At the same time, a largestock of bamboo contributes to broaderenvironmental goals of erosion control,reforestation and watershed management.

For tropical countries confronted with ruralpoverty and shrinking forests, bamboo offers asustainable option with considerable potential.However, it will require joint efforts by theinternational donor community, researchinstitutes, national governments and pioneerinvestors to duplicate China's bamboo boomand turn the belief that bamboo may becomethe timber of the 21st century into a reality.

Further information:Dr Herwig M. CleurenINBAR (International Network for Bamboo andRattan)E-mail: [email protected]

GLOBAL COMMODITIES WITH LOCALVALUE: NON-TIMBER FORESTPRODUCT (NTFP) DEVELOPMENT INTHE BRAZILIAN AMAZON

By Kei Otsuki

This article discusses the limits and potentialof non-timber forest product (NTFP)development, as promoted by a universityprogramme called Poverty and Environmentin Amazon Programme (POEMA) in the Stateof Pará in the eastern part of the BrazilianAmazon. Although the effectiveness isquestionable and still to be examined, thedevelopment of NTFPs for sustainable forestmanagement and poverty alleviation in theAmazon has been widely recognised aspromising. In the early 1990s, NTFPdevelopment was regarded as an alternativeto the modernisation-driven deforestation bylarge-scale development projects. It wasexpected that if NTFPs were turned intoglobal commodities, they would support rainforest conservation and poverty alleviation.However, the market development of NTFPsis still in its infancy.

NTFP strategies in the Brazilian AmazonIn the Brazilian Amazon, the initiative forNTFP development has been taken incooperation with multiple actors at bothnational and international level: localassociations and cooperatives, governmentaland non-governmental organisations,research institutions and universities, theprivate sector and international organisations.The main NTFP development strategiespursued by these actors are aimed either atstrengthening existing non-timber forestextractivism by revalorising products likefruits, palm hearts, fibre, latex and oil assustainable commodities or at introducing andapplying innovative technologies to createnew products - mostly market-oriented andadditionally processed. Examples are



automobile parts made of fibre taken fromcoconut husks and paper crafts made ofprocessed pulp of forest plants and fibres.

In fact, these two strategies are oftencombined through the establishment ofproductive chains. In the State of Pará, thePOEMA programme run by the FederalUniversity of Pará has led to the creation andestablishment of productive chains. In the caseof automobile parts made from pieces ofcoconut fibres, for example, the coconut husksare processed into fibres using simple andadapted technologies in rural communities andsent to a central factory on the outskirts of thecapital of the state of Pará, Belém, where thefibres are turned, using natural latex, into seatsand headrests for trucks, cars and motorbikes.The products are sold to multinationalautomobile companies. Residues of the fibresfrom the factory are then processed further toproduce pulp, mixed with natural fibres uniqueto the Amazon such as curauá (Ananaselectifolius) supplied by different producersfrom various communities, which areeventually turned into paper and sub-products,involving local artists and craft makers.

Along the productive chain, POEMA createdseveral institutional organisms in order toexpand the opportunities for cooperating inNTFP development and marketing with otherinstitutions and also in order to enhanceincome generation among the poor:• POEMA serves as a university

programme for research and ruralextension;

• POEMAR (the Action Nucleus forSustainable Development) acts as anon-governmental organisation;

• POEMATEC Ltd (Susta inab leTechnologies for the Amazon) functionsas a private enterprise;

• POEMACOOP is a binding body ofcommunity producer cooperatives and

• The Bolsa Amazônia Programme was setup as a regional commercialisation

programme related to the BiotradeInitiative of the United NationsConference of Trade and Development(UNCTAD).

POEMA's institutional development suggeststhat NTFP development through productivechain establishment requires the complexinvolvement of a range of organisations. Theproductive chain promoted by theseinstitutions connects rural communities to thecities and eventually to national and globalmarkets.

Poverty alleviation and market developmentIn terms of poverty alleviation, NTFPdevelopment in the Amazon should not onlybe regarded as a tool for rural developmentand forest conservation as most of the NTFPprogrammes suggest. According to the 2000Demographic Census, the rural population inthe Northern Region of Brazil, whichpractically covers the entire Amazon region,encompasses only 30% of its overallpopulation (IBGE, 2000). After all, theBrazilian Amazon is already urbanised. NTFPdevelopment therefore entails the scope forinvolving the urban poor suffering fromunemployment. Completing the NTFPsproductive chain should lead to moreprocessing units and commercialisationopportunities in cities and the surroundingshantytowns.

The market development of the products isessential to ensure successful NTFPdevelopment. However, it is also the mostchallenging part of the development process.Even though NTFP development has beenconsidered sustainable in the internationaldevelopment arena, the actual market fornon-timber forest products occupies a mere1.13% of all export value from North Region(Homma, 2002). It means that a more activecooperation and involvement of the privatesector should be encouraged in terms ofactual business promotion. At the same time,we must realise that the recognition of NTFPs



in the internal market (local, regional andnational) will open up new possibilities formarket development, as Brazil has a largedomestic market thanks to its high rate ofurbanisation and the eagerness of the richerpart of the country to find new businessopportunities. Most of the paper and crafts ofthe Amazon, for example, are sold in SãoPaulo and Rio de Janeiro.

Conclusion - NTFPs as global commoditieswith local valueNTFP development is a clear example of the(re)valorisation and promotion of once ignoredor undervalued local products as globalcommodities that contribute to the sustainableforest management of the world's tropicalregions. However, the market for the productsremains very small and, as a result, the nicheof market demand for NTFPs is becomingsaturated in developed countries. We musttherefore consider the integration of a varietyof markets - local, regional, national andinternational - in order to achieve furtherdevelopment. In the Amazon, at least, NTFPscan become global commodities with localvalue by establishing and completing theproductive chains, which allow variousinstitutions and people to become involved.

References:Homma, A.K.O. (2002). Do extrativismo àdomesticação - 60 anos de história, p.137-156 in A.D. Mendes (Org.) A Amazônia eo seu banco. Manaus: Valer/Banco daAmazônia.IBGE (2000) Censo Demográfico 2000. Riode Janeiro: IBGE.

Further information:Kei OtsukiUnidade de Desenvolvimento dos Produtos -Amazon PaperRua Capitão Pedro Albuquerque 268 Cidade Velha 66020-010, Belém, Pará Brazil

E-mail:[email protected]://www.amazonpaper.com.br

In the Netherlands:Rural Sociology Group, De Leeuwenborch,Wageningen UniversityHollandsweg 1 6706KN Wageningen, The NetherlandsE-mail: [email protected]

C O R P O R A T E - C O M M U N I T YPARTNERSHIPS IN AMAZONIANINDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES

By Carla Morsello

Over the last fifteen years, thecommercialisation of rain forest productsthrough 'fairly-traded' exchanges betweencorporations and indigenous groups has beenpromoted as a win-win approach to fosteringenvironmental conservation and theimprovement of local well-being. Initially madepossible by a globalisation process thatconnected local communities withinternational corporations, the same processhas recently expanded at regional levels. Infact, commercialisation of rain forest productshas been at the centre of the policies of manypublic and private organisations dealing withindigenous affairs or environmentalconservation in the South, giving rise to aburgeoning number of commercialagreements established independently bycompanies, or mediated by NGOs and thegovernment.

Despite this, controversies about the efficacyof the approach still abound. Illustrated by theexample of the trade partnership establishedbetween the A'Ukre Kayapó indigenous groupand a UK-based cosmetics company, I arguethat corporate-community partnerships are



not a panacea, but market relations and thecommercialisation of certain products can, inparticular, offset negative outcomes. The studyparticularly aims to evaluate the effects thatcorporate-community partnerships have onsocial differentiation, subsistence and culture,and the conditions needed to avoid undesiredoutcomes.

The partnershipThe Kayapó are a group of about 4.000indigenous people living in south-easternBrazilian Amazonia. A'Ukre, one amongst the18 Kayapó villages, has established a tradeagreement with a UK-based cosmetics'company in 1991. The company has adoptedpolicies of social responsibility and has createda specific department to commercialise withsocially and economically marginalisedproducers. The agreement with the Kayapó isbased on Brazil-nut oil trading, purchased at arate above market price and used to producecosmetics.

Effects on social differentiation andinequalityOne of the aims of establishing tradepartnerships between companies andcommunities is to improve local well-being.Nonetheless, one major concern of bothanthropologists and conservationists is thatmarket introduction in indigenous societies canresult in increased social differentiation by theunequal accumulation of wealth. The present study shows that, even under fairtrade deals and indigenous control of theoperation, markets are likely to produce somelevel of social differentiation. In this case,traditional social structures and local powerrelations influence how benefits are shared.For instance, usual trends include gender andseniority differentiation, with men and elderssecuring higher benefits. Moreover, evenunder ideal conditions, differentiation canoccur at household level. Because of variedhousehold composition and demography,households have different abilities to

reorganise subsistence work in order toengage in market duties, therefore being ableto secure unequal benefits. Usually, smallerhouseholds and those lacking male labour aremore deprived of market benefits.

Condit ions for avoiding socialdifferentiationAlthough some level of social differentiationmay be produced the study shows that, undersome conditions, fair trade deals can help toreduce inequalities at individual andhousehold level caused by more skewedincome sources present in the same locality.The conditions for ensuring that inequalitiesare avoided are:• open access to all individuals;• unlimited number of opportunities for

people to get involved, typical of NTFPtrading but unusual in wage-based jobs;

• reliance on traditional and/or widespreadskills;

• dependence on traditional forms ofnatural resource use and thereforeorganised along customary and moreegalitarian social structures.

Effects on subsistence and cultureThe second major effect that can arise fromsetting up market activities in indigenoussocieties is the transformation in traditionalforms of natural resource use. In turn,transformation is feared because of the majorrole it plays in the conservation of tropicalforests, especially in relation to agriculturepractices that are more directly linked todeforestation.The study shows that even under fair tradeschemes, markets may producetransformations in traditional subsistencepractices and particularly swidden-agriculture.Even when the total effort is kept unchanged,delays in plot preparation can reduceagriculture productivity, especially in thosesmall households that lack male labour.Markets can also increase agriculture relianceat the same time that the reliability of



gathering forest products decreases, whichleads to weakened social bonds due to themore collective method of gathering. Theseimpacts are, however, reduced for groups atearly stages of market integration that stillhave plenty of leisure and ritual time available,which can be redirected towards marketswithout jeopardising subsistence. However, thereduction implies certain consequences sincemany indigenous groups rely on plenty ofnon-work time to perform practices thatmaintain social bonds and culture. Finally,changes are not only brought about bytrade-offs in the time budget, but also as aconsequence of increased income levels thatmay allow indigenous groups to shift to marketdependence in order to avoid the risks anddrudgeries of subsistence work.

Conditions for avoiding transformations insubsistence and cultureTo avoid transformations in subsistencepractices and culture, new fair trade marketsshould:• foster collective and traditional activities,

such as the gathering of forest products,to help mitigate impacts, reinforce culturalpractices and strengthen social bonds;

• avoid certain products or production levelsthat result in shifts in the preparation ofagricultural plots;

• rely on economies that provide higherincomes per unit of production rather thanincreasing the scale of production;

• consider setting up maximum productionlevels to avoid causing shifts fromsubsistence reliance to market relianceand therefore a higher dependence onmarkets;

• consider setting up a portfolio of activitiesto improve benefits, instead of increasingproduction levels of a single product.

ConclusionsFair trade activities are likely to cause sometransformations, even if the organisation of theproduction and decision-making is left under

the control of indigenous communities.However, some market arrangements mayoffset negative impacts mainly if they rely ontraditional products and practices and avoidproduction levels that lead to complete marketreliance. Considering that market integrationis in many cases unavoidable because itderives from the own desire of indigenousgroups, the study draws attention to theimportance of careful planning and monitoringfair trade market activities in order to avoidundesired outcomes.

Further information:Dr Carla MorselloSchool of Environmental Sciences - Universityof East Anglia and PROCAM - USPR. Ministro Godoy 1353CEP 05015.001 - São Paulo (SP)BrazilE-mail: [email protected]

FIRST FSC-CERTIFIED NON-TIMBERFOREST PRODUCTS AVAILABLEFROM THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON

By Tinde van Andel

The fruits and palm hearts of Euterpeoleracea are non-timber forest products ofmajor economical importance in the BrazilianAmazon. This multi-stemmed palm is widelydistributed in the swamplands of northernSouth America and the greatestconcentrations are in the Amazon estuary.People harvest the fruits by climbing thepalms, cutting the inflorescence andextracting the fruit pulp mechanically or byhand. A highly nutritious liquid, locally knownas açai, is processed into beverages, icecream and pastries and is sold at local orregional markets. Mixed with cassava flour orrice, it is consumed in huge quantities by the



poor section of the Amazonian population.Palm hearts consist of the young, undevelopedleaves in the crown shaft of the Euterpe palmand can be consumed raw or cooked. Toharvest a palm heart, the entire stem is cutdown and its crown shaft removed. Palmhearts are processed and canned in factorieson the banks of the Amazon and are worthsome US$ 120 million annually in domesticconsumption and export value.

Repeated harvesting with short rotationperiods leads to the weakening of individualpalm clumps and a slower regeneration.Ecological research on Euterpe populationshas pointed out that harvesting at shortintervals (1-2 years), as is mostly the case inBrazil, causes clump mortality and a steadydecline in production. Overharvesting andlow-quality (immature) palm hearts havealready weakened Brazil's position on theworld market. Obviously, the indiscriminatefelling of Euterpe palms also has a negativeeffect on the availability of açai resources.

Sustainable management practices Fortunately, alternative land-use practicespermitting both fruit harvest and palm heartextraction are being increasingly implementedby the rural Amazonian population. Harvestingpalm hearts after longer intervals (4-5 years)causes less damage to the natural stands andproduces a higher palm heart yield. Leavingone mature stem per cluster intact increasesthe vitality of the clump and supplies theextractor with fruits. Because of its frequencyand clonal, self-regenerative habit, E. oleraceais able to sustain a viable industry, as long asrotation periods are long enough andproducers strictly follow their managementplans. As long as people climb the trees tocollect the fruit, instead of cutting all maturestems, açai production can be consideredsustainable. Other sustainable managementpractices are the selective thinning of forest

competitors (lianas) and pruning to increaseproduction.

Certified productionSome 4.000 hectares of Euterpe forest onMarajó Island (Amazon estuary) were recentlycertified by the Smartwood Programme,according to the sustainability guidelines ofthe Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Thecanning company, Muaná Alimentos, buyspalm hearts and açai from forest-dwellingcommunities. In 2000, the company produced540 tonnes of palm heart with a value of US$4 million. In the same year, 7 tonnes of pureand sweetened açai pulp were exported to theUS.

Muaná employees are hired and organisedthrough a labour cooperative and trainingcourses in responsible forest managementare held periodically. Other technical trainingcourses are made available to the communityas a whole. New harvesting methods havebeen developed that enable adults to gatherthe fruits and the children now go to school.The newly founded producers' associationprovides boats and fuel for schooltransportation. The state governmentcontinues to provide support as well sinceeradication of child labour is high on theiragenda. The school curriculum includes forestmanagement and the basic concepts ofnature conservation.

Reference:van Andel, T.R., Bánki, O.S. and MacKinven,A. (in press) Commercial non-timber forestproducts of the Guiana Shield: an inventory ofcommercial NTFP extraction and possibilitiesfor sustainable harvesting. NetherlandsCommittee for IUCN, Amsterdam.

This study was carried out for the GuianaShield Initiative (GSI), which is an ambitiousecoregional project, coordinated by theNC-IUCN with the aim of setting upsustainable financial mechanisms to conserve



the unique in-tact ecosystems of the GuianaShield. The development of commercialnon-timber forest products is often one of theways by which local communities generateincome from their surrounding biodiversity.

Further information:Dr Tinde van AndelLeiden University branch of the NationalHerbarium of the NetherlandsPostbus 9514 2300 RA Leiden The NetherlandsE-mail: [email protected]: http://www.guianashield.org/

NEW SYNERGIES IN THE PROMOTIONOF COCOA-BASED AGROFORESTRYSYSTEMS IN THE HUMID FORESTZONE OF WEST AND CENTRALAFRICA

By Denis Sonwa, Stephan Weise and MarcJanssens

The liberalisation of the world economysometimes has drastic effects on rural farmersof the South. These drastic effects, in turn,have instilled a greater awareness among theconsumers of 'forest' products. The latterconsumers are adamant that all the products(including cocoa) which they buy come fromsustainably managed systems. This newconsideration has materialised by moreinvolvement of industr ies (mainlymulti-nationals) in development and naturalresources management projects. The aim ofthis involvement is to increase the chainsupply for the industry, as well as fulfil theneed of consumers to act ethically.

The importance of cocoa plantations inWest and Central AfricaIn the four main cocoa-producing countries ofWest and Central Africa (Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana,

Nigeria and Cameroon), cocoa plantationsincreased from 3 to 5 million ha between 1961and 2000. Cocoa plantations are generallyestablished on land previously covered byforest and/or at forest peripheries. Cocoacultivation, which was Introduced in Africaduring the 19th century, is generallyassociated with forest destruction. This ismainly the case in West Africa. In CentralAfrica, particularly in Cameroon, cocoa ismanaged under forest. This gives suchsystems a certain ecological and socialsustainability.

In southern Cameroon, farmers rely onnon-cocoa trees that are present in theirplantations to compensate for decreasing andfluctuating cocoa prices following theliberalisation of the economy. Thesenon-cocoa trees give flexibility to farmers.They are now trying to plant trees within theirfarming systems with the aim of maintainingdiversity. For example, 80% of the cocoafarmers plant Dacryodes edulis, one of themost commonly used non-timber forestproduct (NTFP), in their cocoa agroforest.Among these farmers 38% also plant fournon-fruit tree species, while 47% of themplant four additional fruit species along withDacryodes edulis.

Managing non-cocoa trees in the cocoaagroforest of southern Cameroon makes thissystem more sustainable than those of WestAfrica that are generally unshaded andquasi-monospecic. Zapfack et al. (2002)reported that the cocoa agroforest of southernCameroon contains 116 plant species asopposed to 160, 171 and 64 species inprimary forest, in secondary forest and onfarmland respectively. In areas of high landpressure, cocoa agroforests are often the onlyforest-like vegetation around . Cocoaagroforests contain 62% of the carbon of aprimary forest (Kotto-Same et al., 1997). Asinternational organisations are now promotingin and ex situ conservation of forest resources



as well as poverty alleviation in the forest area,the management of cocoa under forest is nowseen as replicable in West and Central Africa.Following the actions of GTZ and the Marschocolate industry to promote the conservationof Tai park in Cote d'Ivoire, a regional efforthas been initiated to promote cocoa agroforestin West and Central Africa.

New public-private coalition to promotecocoa agroforest.To promote a cocoa-based sustainable systemin West and Central Africa, a regionalprogramme was launched in May 2000 - theSustainable Tree Crops Program (STCP, seehttp://www.treecrops.org ). Based at theInternational Institute of Tropical agriculture(IITA), the STCP is a joint public-privatepartnership between European and Americanchocolate manufacturers, bilateral donors,international and national institutions andorganisations in West and Central Africa. Theprogramme activities have been endorsed bya broad coalition of stakeholders (Figure 1),including farmer organisations and the privateand public sectors. Activities centred on cocoain this programme cover Cameroon, Nigeria,Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire. The goal of STCP isto improve the economic and social well-beingof smallholders and the environmentalsustainability of tree crops farms. The generalapproach being adopted is one that builds onexisting efforts and activities of relevantstakeholder groups, to add value to them andcoordinate future collaboration.

Strengthening of farmer organisations and thedevelopment of an adapted market andinformation system in forest areas where thecocoa is produced are among theprogramme's priorities. In Southern Cameroon,50% of the farmers belong to farmersassociations. Organising themselves intogroups is one way to overcome the effects ofeconomic liberalisation. Through theseorganisations, or those it helps to create, theprogramme provides tools for the sustainable

management of cocoa farms andcommercialisation of products from the cocoaagroforest. In 2001, cocoa marketed throughthis union yielded a 33% higher price in itsinitial year than cocoa marketed individually,whereas inputs purchased by this union werebought at a 7% discount (IITA Annual Report,2001).

ConclusionConcerted efforts around public-privatepartnerships are now conducted to promotethe sustainable management of cocoaagroforests in West and Central Africa. Theseefforts are still in an embryonic phase andneed to be sustained by international andnational fora for the sustainable managementof the humid forest zone of West and CentralAfrica.

References :Kotto-Same J.P.L, Woomer M., AppolinaireM., Zapfack L. (1997). Carbon dynamics inslash and burn agriculture and land usealternatives in the humid forest zone ofCameroon. Agr. Ecosyst. & Env. 65: 245-256.Zapfack, L., Engwald S., Sonke B.,Achoundong G. and A Madong B. (2002). Theimpact of land conversion on plant biodiversityin the forest zone of Cameroon. Biodiversityand Conservation 11 : 2047-2061.

Further information:Denis J. SonwaInternational Institute of Tropical Agriculture,Humid Forest Ecoregional Center (IITA-HFC)P.O. Box 2008 (Messa) Yaounde, CameroonInstitut of Horticulture, University of Bonn, Aufdem Hugel 6 D-53121 Bonn, Germany E - m a i l : d e s o n w a @ y a h o o . c o m o [email protected]://www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/susg/docs/pas2/sonwa.pdf http://www.odifpeg.org.uk/publications/rdfn/25/g-i.htmlhttp://www.treecrops.org



Private sector

Donors

GOV/NARS

IARCs/IITA

NGOS

Universities

Farmers

Sustainable Tree Crops Map of Partners

Figure 1: Coalition around the promotion of sustainable tree crop systems in West and Central Africa(NB: NARS = National Agricultural Research System; IARCS = International Agricultural Research Centre;IITA = International Institute of Tropical Agriculture)

IV GREENING (TRANS)NATIONALLOGGING COMPANIES? STRATEGIESTO COMBAT ILLEGAL ANDUNSUSTAINABLE LOGGING

One clear effect of globalisation is theglobal flow of international capital to theSouth. Possible 'push and pull' factorsinclude lower operating costs, domesticlogging bans, nepotism and slackenvironmental regulations in the South.The critical theme is how companies canwork in a more sustainable manner andwhich strategies might be used for that:forest environmental services, nationalregulations, NGO pressure andcertification. Others maintain thatinternational business actual lycontributes to more sustainable forestoperations in the South as they abide byinternational corporate regulations, ratherthan promoting a 'cut and run' policy. Thefollowing contributions address thiscritical debate, questioning how to effect

organisational change in transnationaland national logging companies towardsa greener corporate policy.

S Greening of forest industries in the South(Peter Ho)

S The prospects and problems relating tosustainable management of the Congobasin forests (Frank Nwonwu)

S Globalisation and sustainability: theforestry and wood industries on the move- social and labour implications (PeterPoschen)

S Global civil society and forestmanagement in the Russian Far East(Maria Tysiachniouk and JonathanReisman)

S Natural resources governance: combatingillegal logging at regional level (Kevin R.Gray)

S Tales and truths in the forests of Surinam(Linda van der Valk)

S Renegotiating the ITTA: will delegateslook forward or backward? (Andy White)



GREENING OF FOREST INDUSTRIESIN THE SOUTH

By Peter Ho

In the North, a combination of governmentregulations, NGO pressure, market conditionsand technological innovation has encouragedforest industries to act in a moreenvironmentally-friendly way. What is far lessclear is the extent to which the greening offorest business is catching on in developingcountries, and whether or not an institutionaland political framework conducive tocorporate environmental responsibility isbeing constructed. Processes associated withglobalisation indicate that whereas the globalreach and influence of transnational loggingcompanies has increased in recent decades,the power of certain institutions that mightregulate business activities, notably thoseassociated with the nation state and tradeunions, is weak or declining in many countriesin the South.

To what extent is the greening of loggingcompanies a reality in the South? In otherwords, are we talking about the greening or"greenwash" of forest industries? What are itsimplications for sustainable development andwhat might non-governmental andgovernmental actors do to scale up anddeepen corporate environmentalism indeveloping nations? What could be the role of"corporate self-regulation" and "voluntaryincentives" such as FSC in this? These arethe critical questions that need to beaddressed in order to understand corporateenvironmental policy.

Further information:Dr Ir Peter HoEnvironmental Policy Group, Wageningen UniversityPostbus 8130, 6700 EW Wageningen The Netherlands

E-mail: [email protected]

THE PROSPECTS AND PROBLEMSRELATING TO SUSTAINABLEMANAGEMENT OF THE CONGOBASIN FORESTS

By Frank Nwonwu

The Congo Basin is made up of the sixcountries - Gabon, Cameroon, Central AfricanRepublic, Equatorial Guinea, CongoBrazzaville and the Democratic Republic ofCongo (DRC). The Congo Basin Forestsrepresent as much as a quarter of the world'srain forests and cover more than 198 millionhectares. They are among the last remaininglarge areas of primeval forests in the world,second only to the Amazon Basin. Theseforests are home to rare endangered speciessuch as the eastern lowland gorilla, mountaingorilla, chimpanzee, white rhino, okapi, forestelephants, forest buffalo and Congo peacock.They provide food, medicine, constructionmaterials and shelter for over 20 millionpeople including the indigenous people, thePygmies. They further act as a sink for thegreenhouse gas carbon dioxide. This paperreviews the management of the Congo BasinForests from international and local points ofview. It assesses the activities and efforts oflogging companies, donor agencies, foreigngovernments and member states in thesub-region aimed at achieving a sustainableuse and management of the forests.Furthermore, it examines the factors thatmilitate against efficient management of theforests and prescribes some remedialmeasures.

The globalisation-localisation nexus The Congo Basin Forests are under threatfrom a multitude of forces among whichlogging, hunting and mining are the most



important, degrading almost four millionhectares each year. For example, theMalaysian timber company Idris HydraulicBhd, has timber concessions totalling about1.2 million hectares in DRC and Gabon. In theDRC, Innovest Bhd has two timberconcessions totalling 0.8 million hectares,while the German company SIFORZAL has alogging concession of more than 2.4 millionhectares.

Governments in the sub-region haveexpressed concerns at the catastrophicconsequences of unsustainable logging of theforests. At a meeting in Paris in 2002, theCongolese Minister of Forestry highlighted theimportance of democratisation and adequatefunding in sustainable management of forestresources. He emphasised his concern bystating that a lack of access to financialresources has led to weak governmentcontrol over the forestry sector in the Congo.

Policies adopted locally by member states toachieve sustainability and efficiency include:• The 1994 forest law in Cameroon, which

prescribed six different types of loggingpermits namely: sales of standingvolume, exploitation permits, individualfelling authorisation, concession, stateexploitation and wood recovery permit.

• The Yaoundé Summit of 1999, whichbrought together the six Heads of Statein the Congo Basin, and yielded a12-point declaration on cross-borderforest protection.

• The December 2000 agreement betweenCameroon, Congo Brazzaville and theCentral African Republic to jointlymanage 28.000 km2 of forest.

International and local initiatives ingreening the Congo Basin ForestsDuring the World Summit on SustainableDevelopment (WSSD) in Johannesburg in2002, the world's five wealthiest nations - theUnited States, Japan, the United Kingdom,Germany, France and Canada - incooperation with the World Bank, internationalconservation groups and logging companies,agreed to provide up to US $ 100 million to tryto save the forests of the Congo Basin. TheUnited States, as the leader of thepartnership, is to invest $53 million betweennow and 2005 to help the six countries in theCongo Basin develop a network of nationalparks, protected areas and assist localcommunities in managing their forests.

Factors militating against the greeningeffortsOne factor that has tainted the local efforts toachieve sustainable forest management is theseeming alienation of the indigenous peopleand local communities in the decision-makingprocess. Environmentalists speculate thatthere is very little input from NGOs and thelocal people, especially the Pygmies whodepend on the forests for their livelihoods.They have warned that unless the Pygmiesare involved in the management of the forestsand are able to share in the benefits, futuregenerations of indigenous people might feelcheated out of their heritage.

The protracted civil wars in the DRC andCongo Brazzaville, the political instability inthe Cameroon, the de facto one partydictatorship and limited democratisation in therest of the sub-region militate against theglobal and local greening initiatives.

Corruption within government and loggingcompany agents further exacerbate thedegradation and destruction of the forests ofthe Congo Basin. In Cameroon, the Pygmieshave mortgaged their traditional values to huntbushmeat for commercial traders and to find



commercially exploitable trees for loggers inreturn for fees.

ConclusionThis study investigated the activities ofinternational logging companies, foreigngovernments and state governments in thesub-region, as well as those of NGOs inrelation to the goal of sustainablemanagement of the Congo Basin Forests.The study reveals that logging, hunting forbushmeat and the exploitation of other forestresources are excessive and in many casesillegal. The scenarios are a threat to theworld's remaining rain forests, their immensebiodiversity of rare and endangered flora andfauna and the livelihood of the people,especially the indigenous Pygmies.

The efforts of foreign and local governments,NGOs and the logging companies, aimed atsaving the forests, are hampered by theprolonged civil wars in DRC and CongoBrazzaville as well as the ever-eruptingpolitical unrest in the other states of thesub-region. The emergence of sub-regionaland trans-national alliances in forestmanagement offers great potential and ishereby prescribed as a viable mechanism forsustainable management of the Congo BasinForests.

Further information:Prof. Dr Frank NwonwuUniversity of the Free StateP.O. Box 339BloemfonteinSouth AfricaE-mail: [email protected]

G L O B A L I S A T I O N A N DSUSTAINABILITY: THE FORESTRYAND WOOD INDUSTRIES ON THEMOVE - SOCIAL AND LABOURIMPLICATIONS

By Peter Poschen

The forestry industry is on the move.Globalisation is clearly gaining momentum inforestry and accelerating the structuralchanges that have taken place in this sectorover the last decades. Trade - now equivalentto 30% of world output - is outgrowingproduction for basically all the subcategoriesof products (i.e. forestry, timber industries,wooden furniture making, and pulp andpaper). Falling tariffs and regulationsfacilitating and encouraging foreign directinvestments (FDI) are important driving forces.There are also environmental factors drivingglobalisation. In a number of countries thenatural forests have been, or are about to be,exhausted and industries are having torelocate, or at least find other sources of rawmaterial. As a consequence, the sources ofsupply have gradually been shifting frompublic to private and from natural to plantedforests. Conditions for plantations areparticularly favourable in parts of the southernhemisphere. The location of future markets aswell as of sources of raw material, coupledwith the increased financial clout and reach oflarger firms, are resulting in a redirecting ofthe flow of FDI increasingly from North toSouth and West to East.

Adoption of sustainable forestmanagement objectiveA different kind of move, but one that hasbeen gaining momentum in recent years, isthe widespread adoption of the sustainabledevelopment objective by the forest productsindustry. Sustainable development in forestryand the forest industries has been defined asan equilibrium between economic



development, the conservation of theenvironment and social justice. The adoptionof this goal is recent and implementation stillin its early stages, but it has already made aclear impression on the forest policies andpractices of countries and individual firms. Intoday's competitive markets, more and morefirms have come round to the view thatdemonstrating environmental and socialresponsibility can be a decisive advantage toorganisations. One outcome of thisdevelopment has been the spread ofcertification and labelling as a means ofindependently verifying claims of sustainabilityor good stewardship in a credible manner andcommunicating this to customers and thepublic.

Implications for decent work All of these developments are havingprofound social and labour impacts, affectingall aspects of decent work: employment andincome, job quality and social security, rightsat work and social dialogue. Employment: An estimate based on the bestdata available puts global forest-basedemployment at some 47 million work-years(full-time equivalents), including both theformal industrial sector (more than 17 millionjobs) and the informal and subsistencesectors (around 30 million). Globalisation,with mobile capital, the worldwide availabilityof advanced technology and larger firms moreinclined to substitute capital for labour willmake job creation in the forest industries anuphill struggle even in developing countries,except for those that experience spectaculargrowth in output. However, some countriesand firms have been coping with globalisationand other changes much better than othersand have even benefited from them. Theimpact of globalisation is to a large extentconditioned by the reaction of firms andgovernments. Even small firms have beenable to use it to their advantage. Job quality: There is no sign thatglobalisation has had a direct effect on wage

levels, which continue to be determined bynational labour markets. Attempts to cutwages have therefore been unsuccessful. Inorder to remain competitive vis-à-vis othersectors, the forest industry is more likely to beforced to increase wages in some countriesand sub-sectors. One factor associated withglobalisation and structural change that hasstrongly influenced the quality of employment,generally for the worse, is outsourcing,particularly in the case of forestry contractors.Contractors and their workers have lowerquality jobs in more or less every respect:income, job stability, working hours, safety andhealth, and social security coverage. Theyreceive little support from others in the supplychain but are exposed to severe andsometimes unfair competition. Trainingsystems are not geared to their needs. In sucha situation, investments in advancedequipment and work organisation, as well asin qualified staff, are difficult. Skilldevelopment is a priority area in all countriesand all sub-sectors.Rights at work: Friction between aglobalising forestry sector and social andlabour rights has been growing with regard tolocal communities and indigenous peoples. Anumber of clashes, some of them violent,have erupted in recent years. The potential forsuch conflicts is rising as plantation forestryand the harvesting of natural forests advanceinto new areas. Unacceptable social andenvironmental cost is believed to be a result ofdeficits in the design of schemes andinvestments or of poor management. Givingfull consideration to social impact can help tomaximise benefits for all concerned. Social dialogue: The institutions of socialdialogue and the organisations involved areoften weak in countries where the forestindustries have been growing strongly. In allcountries, contracting out has complicatedorganisation and the establishment of forumsfor social dialogue. While firms are becomingmore and more organised and operateinternationally, their social dialogue



counterparts in governments and workers'organisations have mostly remained confinedto individual plants or countries. More socialdialogue and stronger partners appear to bevery desirable, not least in view of theimportance of the social dimension ofsustainable development.

ConclusionIn order to make sustainable development areality, the social dimension will have to beincorporated more fully and in moreoperational terms into policies related to theforestry sector and into industry practice.National fora on sustainability in forestry,industry-community partnerships, certification,codes of forest practice, small enterprisedevelopment, organisation and dialogueabout forestry contracting modalities areencouraging examples of how globalisation,decent work and sustainability can be madecompatible. The challenge is to turn goodpractices into standard forestry practices.

Further information:Dr Peter PoschenThe International Labour Organisation4 route des Morillons CH-1211 Geneva 22 Switzerland E-mail: [email protected]

GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY ANDFOREST MANAGEMENT IN THERUSSIAN FAR EAST

By Maria Tysiachniouk and JonathanReisman

Since Gorvachev's reforms in the late 1980s,Russian legislation and the policy-makingprocess have been in a state of constantchange. At the same time, both internationaland local NGO networks have becomesignificant political and social actors.Furthermore, the heightening of globalisation

has brought changes to government-civilsociety interactions and the ways in whichtimber is produced, transported andconsumed. Environmental policy researcherstraditionally focus on state-civil society-marketrelations within one country, but Russia - likeother countries - is now a participant in globalmarkets and the global civil society. Theseworldwide forces and flows influencegovernments and reshape the traditional waysof creating rules as well the response of localand international organisations.

By analysing the partnership between WWFand the forest company Terney Les, which isinvolved in forest trade with Japan, we aim tofind out how international and localenvironmental organisations promote forestcertification under the Forest StewardshipCouncil (FSC) and try to prevent illegallogging in the Russian Far East. Thispartnership was created in order to bring FSCforest certification to the region as analternative to highly inefficient and destructivelogging. Our analysis will focus on thecontroversy arising from the interests of theindigenous Udegey people on the land rentedfor logging by Terney Les.

Environmentally sound marketsWWF is trying to adapt the Russian forestindustry to environmentally sound markets. InAsia, there is a high demand for uncertified,and thus cheaper, wood. WWF in the Far Easthires experts to analyse market opportunitiesin Northeast Asia in order to find buyersinterested in certified wood. We will assessthese efforts and consider the difficulties andbarriers to fostering FSC certification in theregion, given the dearth of environmentalsensitivity in these markets.

The specific context of this region influencesWWF's objectives, strategy and activities.According to WWF, governmental forestprotection agencies underreport the level ofillegal logging along the Russian-Chinese



border. WWF claims that the control systemis inadequate and poorly funded due to thesocio-economic conditions of present-dayRussia. In this context, supplementing lawenforcement is a WWF priority in the region.We will analyse WWF's partnership with lawenforcement structures operating under theregional branch of the Russian Ministry ofNatural Resources in preventing illegallogging in the region.

Globalisation has brought many growingdangers to the forest resources in theRussian Far East. Public-private partnerships,however, can help to civilise even the mostenvironmentally insensitive markets. Thepresence of international environmentalorganisations such as the World Wildlife Fund(WWF) and many other NGO networks in theRussian forestry sector is essential. Withoutthis international intervention and the informalnetworks created by these organisations,Russia could easily become a worldwideexporter of under-priced and unsustainablyproduced roundwood.

Further information:Dr Maria TysiachnioukCenter for Independent Social ResearchPO Box 55St. Petersburg 191002Russian FederationE-mail: [email protected]

N A T U R A L R E S O U R C E SG O V E R N A N C E : C O MB A T I N GILLEGAL LOGGING AT REGIONALLEVEL

By Kevin Gray

The problem of illegal logging has recentlycaught the attention of the internationalcommunity. Exporting countries from theSouth are realising that problems of

governance and corruption in their naturalresources sector are denying their treasuriesaccess to considerable sources of revenue. Inaddition, illegal practices are undermining therule of law and ultimately leading to outcomesinimical to sustainable development.

International governance on forestry issuesand efforts to draft a binding convention onforests have fallen short, despite unabatedglobal deforestation. The recent awareness ofthe problem of illegal logging may overcomethe deadlock due to the economicdisadvantages of national inaction. The loss ofgovernment revenue and ill regard forgovernment laws and regulations havemotivated countries to pursue bilateral andmultilateral strategies.

By studying the policymaking process forcombating illegal logging since the RioSummit on Environment and Development in1992, we are exploring how the internationalcommunity has mobilised around this issue.Specific attention is given to the recentinitiatives in a number of intergovernmentalbodies that incorporate forest governanceissues into their mandate. We will alsoaddress the issue of how recently establishedregional mechanisms exude great potential forbeing an effective way to combat illegallogging. We will argue that, in the case ofillegal logging, the regional approach offersthe greatest chance of ensuring that aworkable strategy is introduced.

The problem The clandestine nature of illegal trade makesits scale and value difficult to estimate. A largepart of the problem relates to inadequatenational laws or infringements thereof. Insome countries there may simply be no cleardefinition of what is and is not illegal. Violationof the law is, however, a problem impactingthe international trading system and globalsustainability of forest resources forundermining economic development and



denying substantial government revenue thatcould be channelled towards developmentalobjectives. In addition, governance in thenatural resources sector influences how therule of law operates in all sectors of society. Alack of compliance with laws and regulations,corruption and lack of political will all inhibiteconomic growth.

Poor governance in the forestry sector can bebetter understood by assessing moresystemic issues such as rampant poverty,little respect for human rights and unsuitableliving conditions. Effective ways of combattingillegal logging need to concentrate on thedomestic environment that stimulates thisillegal behaviour. Incentives for localproducers are required that rewardsustainable and legal livelihood alternatives toillegal logging .

Required actionsTackling illegal logging will require a numberof initiatives developed at all levels ofgovernment - from the local community up tointernational fora. Legal instruments may onlyplay a partial role, since the origins of theproblem are rooted in basic questions ofeconomic underdevelopment, poorinfrastructure and limited resources andopportunities. An interdisciplinary approach isneeded with full engagement of non-stateactors in the process. The use of marketmechanisms such as certification schemesand corporate codes of conduct supplementthe variety of legislative and regulatoryinstruments and policy documents needed tocurb the illegal logging trade.

Limited success Multilateral efforts to combat illegal trade intimber and non-timber products have failed.Two years of negotiations on a global forestsconvention before the Rio 'Earth Summit' in1992 did not result in a binding convention.Although an agreement specifically on illegallogging might be easier to negotiate, and

there seems to be increasing internationalwillingness to act on the subject, concernsabout national sovereignty and fears ofdisguised protectionism against exports arelikely to cause many exporting countries, bothindustrialised and developing, to be reluctantto engage in such negotiations.

Some countries are exploring the possibility oftaking unilateral action to address the issue.The EU and the United States have adoptedcustoms measures to stem the tide of illegallyfelled timber, such as mahogany form Brazil.However, the effectiveness of unilateralmeasures to correct the conditions underlyingthe illegal trade is limited. In addition,unilateral measures can potentially fall foul ofinternational trade law requirements restrictingthe ability to prohibit the imports of illegallyfelled and produced timber. Some countriesmay perceive such measures as disguisedattempts to protect local producers.

Regional approachA regional focus on combating illegal loggingmight be more appropriate. Such anarrangement would consist of severallike-minded timber-producer countries. Thismight bridge the needs of having consolidatedaction by a large number of countries whilestill remaining cognisant of their commoncharacteristics. Cooperative management canfunction more effectively over a smallergeographic area with adjoining States.Information exchange and resource sharingcan be carried out more easily under thesecircumstances. In addition, there is betterscope for monitoring the problem when thecountries can assist each other in tracing theillegal exports coming from their region.Regional arrangements to combatenvironmental crime, such as the LusakaAgreement (1997) in Southern Africa or theAmazon Treaty (1978) already establishframeworks for enforcement collaboration aswell as capacity building. The Forest LawEnforcement and Governance (FLEG)



Ministerial Conference in Bali, Indonesia -regarded as an important initiative in EastAsia - could well provide a preliminaryframework for the negotiation of a regionalagreement on illegal logging in East Asia.

Success fu l reg iona l ag reemen tsdemonstrating how an anti-illegal loggingregime could work in practice, howcapacity-building could be delivered, and theimpacts of the system on trade flows andgovernment revenues, could provide amuch-needed stimulus for a wider agreement.The regional approach may also bepreferable since it can stimulate action at thenational level through a peer review system.Forest law enforcement is primarily, if notexclusively, dependent on what occurs atnational and sub-national level. In addition togenerating awareness of the problem, Statesthat agree to strengthen their legislation maymotivate others to follow suit due to theimpact on competition for their exports thatmight be disadvantaged due to higher legalcompliance standards in importing countries.

Further information:Kevin Gray, Research fellowBritish Institute of International andComparative Law 17 Russell Square, Charles Clore HouseWC1B 5JP London United KingdomE-mail: [email protected]

TALES AND TRUTHS IN THEFORESTS OF SURINAM

By Linda van der Valk

Globalisation is the process of integratingeconomies world-wide, particularly throughtrade and financial flows. In terms of theglobal timber trade, the transnational loggingcompanies play a more important role than

the local companies as exemplified in thefollowing quote: 'The international trade inwood, pulp and paper is worth around US $100 billion per year, making timber the thirdmost valuable natural resource in the globalmarket place. Around 80 - 90 % of this trade isnow controlled by transnational corporations'(www.eia-international.org, 16-7-2002).

These companies not only dominate the worldtimber trade, they also dominate local loggingoperations in countries where forest andtimber resources abound. This is why it isimportant to investigate what role thesecompanies play in forest destruction anddegradation at country and resource level, inparticular in countries where environmentallegislation is lacking.

We conducted such a study in Surinam, aformer colony of the Netherlands, where forestresources are abundant, several transnationallogging companies are active and forestdegradation has also been reported .

Tales and truthsThe title of our study - Tales and truths in theforests of Surinam - reflects that the situationin the field does not always correspond withthe image that comes to the fore ininternational literature and reports. The firststriking discrepancy concerns the role oftransnational logging companies. Whereasthese companies are said to have a negativeinfluence on the Surinamese environment,non-governmental organisations (NGOs) inSuriname claim that transnational loggingcompanies operate on a sustainable basis.Obviously, the logging companies havechanged for the better.

Hence the objectives of our study are twofold:• To describe and explain organisational

change in logging companies in Suriname• To compare these results with

international criticism



We would not preclude the possibility thattransnational logging companies wereinfluenced by these criticisms and havechanged as a result. The main researchquestion is therefore: What organisationalchange with regard to sustainability that hastaken place in logging companies as a resultof social pressure?

Greening of organisationsWe conducted a survey among differentstakeholders in the logging and timberindustry, such as NGOs, the government andseveral local and transnational loggingcompanies, departing form the theoreticalnotion of the 'greening of organisations' atdifferent organisational levels. This notiondistinguishes between the image of acompany (what it says it is) and what thecompany actually does (Boons et al., 2000).

We found that institutional strengthening andimproved environmental legislation andcontrol in Suriname resulted in the 'greeningof organisations' in two ways: • The transnational companies that caused

much damage and were not inclined tomanage the forests on a sustainablebasis have left the country;

• More recently established transnationalcompanies are showing an interest inforest management programmesprimarily because it is obligatory, but theycomply with the legislation and invest insawmills, which suggests that they arewilling to operate in Suriname on along-term basis.

The results suggest that the discrepancybetween legislation and the way transnationallogging companies operate in the field havealtered. The organisations seem to havechanged directly or indirectly as a result ofnational and international criticism.

References:Boons F. (ed.), Baas, L., Bouma, J.J.,

Groene, A. de and Le Blansch, K. (2000). Thechanging nature of business. Utrecht: Jan vanArkel International Books.Valk, L.A. van der and Kruft, A. (2002). Talesand truths in the forests of Suriname. MScThesis Wageningen University.

Further information:Linda van der ValkEsschilderstraat 29 R2012 BC Haarlem The NetherlandsE-mail: [email protected]

RENEGOTIATING THE ITTA: WILLDELEGATES LOOK FORWARD ORBACKWARD?

By Andy White

Recent meetings of the International TropicalTimber Council (ITTC) have perhaps beenmost remarkable for their lack of controversy.Delegates debated and made progress onwhat had previously been highly contentiousissues - such as certification, illegal loggingand the role of civil society within the ITTC -the very issues that have long paralysed theCouncil and drove many NGOs to dismiss itas an irrelevant, if not destructive, force intropical forestry. An emerging consensus - orat least an ability to speak openly about theseissues - bodes well for the future of the ITTCand suggests that it is finally in a position toaddress some of the underlying causes oftropical forest degradation - positioning it tobecome a much more effective institution inthe future than in the past.

While the emerging openness is encouraging,the ITTC is still very far from realising its ownobjective that all timber exports from allmember countries would come fromsustainably managed sources by the year



2000. To make good this Objective 2000 andto realise the ITTC's potential to become adriving force for saving tropical forests andforestry, the Council will need to rethink itsown scope and focus during therenegotiations of the ITTA. Forest Trendssees three priority issues for the Council toconsider in its upcoming deliberations:

1. Prioritise fulfilling its commitment tosustainable development. The fate of tropicalforests and forestry is inextricably linked tothe fate of the hundreds of millions of poorforest dwellers around the world. The ITTChas committed itself to contributing tosustainable development, but has notdeveloped a vision or articulated a strategyregarding how forestry and forest trade canmake a difference. To succeed, the ITTC willneed to come to grips with the equitydimensions of the timber trade. Indigenousand other communities now legally own oradminister about 25% of all tropical forests,and at current rates this amount could doublein the next 15 years. This means that forestcommunities can no longer be consideredpassive participants, but rather as leadingdecision makers in the fate of the forests. Thesteps forward are clear: the ITTC shouldaggressively assist producer and consumercountries to adopt policies that recognise andstrengthen indigenous and other communityrights and 'level the playing field' forcommunities and other small-scale producers- reforming policies and regulations to allowthem to compete and use their forestresources for their development. For far toolong, governments have given preferentialtreatment to large industry rather than smallones and have acted to consolidate power ina small set of industrial players - withdevastating effects for the forests, for thepeople, and for government revenues.

2. Revamp the 'project' funding mechanismto finance work on the fundamental policyissues driving forest degradation. While

current 'technical' projects are useful, they donot substantially address the real problems inthe forests. The ITTC needs to takeadvantage of the increasing openness andemerging sense of partnership to financepolicy studies, technical assistance and pilotprojects to advance forest tenure reform, theremoval of subsidies to large-scale industryand the establishment of policy and regulatoryframeworks that do not discriminate againstsmall holders and communities. The issue oftenure reform merits particular focus.Disagreement over who owns and who shouldown the forest is the rule rather than theexception in many tropical forest countries.This uncertainty and the insecurity itgenerates undermines any possibility of soundmanagement and sustained investment.Becoming more relevant and effectiverequires the ITTC to no longer ignore the needfor tenure reform and other fundamentalissues, but rather embrace them and providetechnical assistance to its many members ingrappling with these problems.

3. Protect natural forests and embracemarkets for the ecosystem services of naturalforests. The ITTO was formed to save naturaltropical forests - not the global timber trade.Managing the timber trade was a means to anend for conservation. In contrast to the earlydays of the ITTO, one of the biggest threats tosustained conservation of tropical forests istree plantations - which, according to theITTO's own figures, are likely to provide up toone-half of all industrial supply within 15 years.Plantations undoubtedly have a legitimate andimportant role in meeting global demand - theproblem lies in the fact that most plantationsare heavily subsidised, either directly orindirectly, tipping the scales against naturalforests and thereby undermining the value ofnatural forests and the potential for investmentand conservation. Unfortunately, the ITTO hastoo often acted as a neutral observer in thisgrowing competition between plantations andnatural forests. It is time for the ITTO to return



to its roots and become a clear andunabashed advocate for natural forests andtheir conservation, arguing against subsidiesto plantations and embracing tools, marketsand policies that advance the interest ofnatural forests.

Chief among these new markets that shouldbe stimulated by the ITTO are markets forforest ecosystem services. Without paymentsfor ecosystem services, natural forestmanagement will find it very difficult tocompete with alternative land uses - whethersoybeans, oil palm or fiber plantations - andthe industry reliant on natural forests willwither, and with it the livelihood options ofmillions of the world's poorest. The ITTO hasalready funded some ecosystem serviceprojects and the Council should explore everyalternative to increase the ITTC's support forthe development of these new markets.

The ITTC has come a long way since itsinception in 1985. The emerging consensus,established organisational capacity anddedicated member governments mean itsfuture is bright. With the renegotiation of theITTA, delegates have an opportunity toreshape and remake the ITTC, enabling it toaddress the real, underlying drivers of topicalforest degradation, contribute to sustainabledevelopment and assume a position ofleadership in the global forest community. Ourhope is that the negotiators are ready for thechallenge, and that they will look to the future,and not the past, for their inspiration.

Further information:Andy White, Director Policy and MarketAnalysis Forest Trends1050 Potomac Street NW 20007 Washington DC USAE-mail: [email protected]

V CERTIFICATION AND TROPICALFORESTRY

While the certification phenomenon is stillquite new, with the FSC created in 1993(some certification preceded FSC) theprogress has been astounding. Over 30million hectares of forest in over 30countries have been certified. Over 600'chain of custody' certifications have beenawarded to suppliers of FSC productsand the FSC logo can now be seen onmore than 10 000 product linesworldwide. The abundance of newlydeveloped certification schemes includingthe Pan-European Forest Certification(PERC) in Europe, the SustainableForestry Initiative (SFI) in the US, theCanadian Standards Association's (CSA)Sustainable Forest ManagementStandard, and certification schemes inIndonesia and Malaysia is a sign thatcertification is here to stay.

Certification has had many affects thatcannot be measured in hectares orpremiums. It has given a greater voice toindigenous groups historically left out ofthe forest debate. Certification has madea tremendous contribution to creating aspace for broad participation andcontinuous adaptation in forestmanagement and conservation efforts.Regional standards-setting groups havebrought together industry, theenvironmental community and localcommunities in an unprecedented way.Hundreds of companies, communitiesand forest landowners have reinventedtheir businesses, enhanced their productsand established new partnerships,responding to the new opportunitiesopened by the certification movement.



Several strategic issues should beaddressed in the future development ofthis new tool. Originally designed inresponse to unsustainable logging in thetropics, certification has been much moresuccessful in temperate forest areas. Acore question addressed in the followingarticles is therefore how certification canbe made more useful in those forestareas where it is most needed.

S Forest certification and its present andpotential influence on regulatoryframeworks and forest policies (GerardoSegura)

S Certification in complex socio-politicalsettings (Michael Richards)

S Forest certification and small forestenterprises: key trends, benefits andimpacts (Rebecca Butterfield)

S Forest certification and communities:looking forward to the next decade(Augusta Molnar)

S Sustainable forest management in Braziland the role of FSC forest certification(Andre de Freitas)

S Comparison of standards for evaluationof sustainable forest managementbetween countries from the South andthe North (Bart Holvoet and Bart Muys)

S Capacity building in forest certification:linking an international marketmechanism to national initiatives (AnneC. de Fraiture and Wouter LeenHijweege)

S Remote sensing and GIS for supportingsustainable forest managementcertification in the tropics (Cui Yihun,Yousif Ali Hussin and Ali Sharifi)

S Beyond timber: certification of non-timberforest products (Patricia Shanley)

FOREST CERTIFICATION AND ITSP R E S E N T A N D P O T E N T I A LINFLUENCE ON REGULATORYFRAMEWORKS AND FORESTPOLICIES

By Gerardo Segura

The increasing demands for more social andenvironmental benefits from forestry areputting pressure on governments in manycountries. In the past, governmentstraditionally sought to exert control overforestry activities and they have been themajor player in the forest sector in manycountries. However, recent external pressuresand the self recognition of governmentsregarding the limitations of public institutionsto take on these responsibilities have tendedto shift the role of governments to regulation,technical assistance and mediation of conflictresolutions, leaving other roles (e.g.ownership, management, commercialisation,conservation) to stakeholders and the civilsociety.

It is in this context that forest certification hasemerged during the last decade as aninternational process to promote sustainableforest management. Although the originalpurpose of certification schemes was toprovide market-based incentives to improvethe quality of forest management byproducers, such schemes have also beenapplied by different groups to influencegovernment policies and actions (e.g.regulation-oriented verification to complementor strengthen forest law enforcement) and toverify that specific project-based forestryoutcomes have been achieved.

This review evaluates the role that forestcertification has had on influencing publicforest policies and legislation during the lastdecade and identifies the possible role thatthis independent process could have on



governments during coming years. Detailedanalysis has been carried out in indicativecases of developed and developing countriesin both tropical and temperate regions (e.g.Cameroon, Finland, Bolivia, Malaysia, Mexicoand USA) where certification has had bothpositive and negative outcomes, looking atrelevant national (e.g. Malaysia and UK),regional (e.g. PEFC) and international (e.g.FSC and ISO) certification systems andprogrammes.

DilemmasAlthough the role of forest certification ininfluencing sound policy processes has beenrecognised, the available evidence is limited.Documented changes in policy instrumentsare only beginning to emerge, mainly as anindirect result of independent localcertification actions. Some governments arebeginning to recognise the indirect value ofcertification schemes with regard to: • stimulating compliance or encouraging

implementation and enforcement of localregulations and policies;

• improving national definitions, standards,criteria and indicators of sustainableforest management (SFM) based on amulti-stakeholder participatory approach;

• improving forest and environmentallegislations;

• gaining credibility by certifying publicforests; and

• advancing international policy dialoguesinvolving multilateral institutions andprocesses (e.g. FAO, ITTO, UNFF,UNCBD).

Governments, however, have also expressedconcerns regarding the possible conflictsrelated to the acceptance and spread ofindependent certification schemes that maybe in conflict with local policy instruments ormay not respond to local biophysical andsocial conditions and needs, that maychallenge government rights over publiclyowned forest lands, or that could lead to tradebarriers that discriminate against small land

owners and poor rural communities.

Barriers• Governments as absent actors in

independent third-party certificationprocesses. Threats of certificationschemes as an independentenvironmental market-based instrumentthat may be in conflict with localconditions and policies and challengegovernment rights over publicly ownedforest lands.

• Direct and indirect influences ofcertification processes on policy reforms.The limitations and opportunities ofcertification as a true policy instrument.

• The use of independent certification bygovernments as a 'soft policy' instrumentfor SFM. The role and impacts of nationalcertification programmes. Promotingcertification in private and communalforest lands as a law enforcementstrategy. Failure to ensure consistencywith national policy objectives andprogrammes leading to increased costsimposed on producers for thebureaucratic requirements to comply withdifferent regulatory approaches and therisk of overregulation as a burden to localsmall producers and poor communities.

• The role of governments in promotingaccess of local producers to certificationmarkets. Development of technicalassistance and investment programmesto improve access of local small-scaleproducers to certified markets.Programmes to stimulate the localdemand of consumers of certifiedproducts in developing countries.

Adjustments A number of governments have incorporatedaspects of forest certification into theirregulatory frameworks, such as those inBolivia, Brazil, Finland, Malaysia, Mexico andthe United Kingdom. Those with the longestexperience have made interestingadjustments in the national initiatives to



address country-specific political economic,social and ecological conditions within theoverall agreed principles of certification.Specific regions, such as northern Europe,have developed criteria and processesrelevant to smallholders and cooperativeforest managers.

Recommendations• Agreements in international forums

regarding issues such as cooperationneed to ensure that the differentemerging certification schemes achievecons is tency and in ternat ionalcomparability to avoid confusion amongstakeholders (e.g. consumers andproducers)

• Governments need to address problemsof certification related to equity, mainly toprotect local forest producers againstpossible trade barriers created by thehigher costs of certification and resultingdiscrimination against small land ownersand poor rural communities.

Further information:Gerardo Segura WarnholtzNational Coordinator PROCYMAF, NationalForest Commission (CONAFOR)Progreso No. 5, Coyoacan, Mexico, Mexico E-mail: [email protected]://www.conafor.gob.mx/snif

FOREST CERTIFICATION INCOMPLEX SOCIO-POLIT ICALSETTINGS

By Michael Richards

This review examines the role of forestcertification in forest trade and governance incomplex socio-political settings. A largeportion of the world's forestland suffers from

illegal logging, poor management or nomanagement at all. What is the role ofcertification in promoting better practice in thedifficult areas of the world and what are someof the options for progressing in these areas?Looking at the experience in Latin America,Russia, parts of Southeast Asia and parts ofSub-Saharan Africa, the review asks: • What national criteria and indicators can

be applied in an imperfect setting tocreate a credible system of forestcertification?

• What potential repercussions do thesehave on overall forestry sector andgovernment setting and enforcement ofstandards?

• How does the certification of a limited setof 'responsible' forest operations affectthe overall trade in sustainable forestproducts - including the problem of greenwashing, the problem of acceptingimperfect equity standards for tenure orworkers' rights and not being able tochange the standards later and of impactswhere land tenure and forest tenure rightsare not well established.

The review looks at some of the options thathave been adopted to evaluate their potentialeffectiveness as certification moves forward.

Overall certification is still at a rather incipientstage in the tropics due to its cost and otherconstraints. While North America and Europehave 8.7% and 5.7% of their forest areascertified, respectively, other regions only haveabout 0.5% of their forest area certified. About97% of the total certified forest area is in NorthAmerica and Europe and the total certifiedforest area is still less than 1% of the world'sforests outside protected areas.

Governance impactsThe main positive governance impacts includeimproved forest management planning andadministration (including internal monitoring,evaluation and reporting procedures),increased dialogue with government and otherstakeholders, increased acceptance of



community representatives in local andnational policy fora and, at a more generallevel, increased company and supply-chaintransparency. Certification is helping tostimulate enabling SFM policies, because ofits participatory approach to standardsdevelopment, raising awareness of thepotential of SFM, decentralising anddemocratising the policy processes andproviding better policy definition from aninterdisciplinary sharing of ideas. In somecountries, certification is beginning to take ona voluntary monitoring function of SFM. InCameroon, Papua New Guinea and Ghana,'privatised' chain of custody verificationmechanisms are emerging which will helpenforce forest management and transportregulations.

Trade liberalisation increases the influence ofinternational green market pressures likecertification and green procurement policies(as promoted by several Europeangovernments). In a more liberalised tradingscheme, there are higher returns on certifiedforest product exports.

DilemmasHowever, various shortcomings in certificationand timber procurement initiatives can reducethe likelihood of forest governance benefits indeveloping and transition economy countries:• Most forest production is for domestic

markets currently disinterested incertification and forest governanceproblems are more acute in the contextof domestic trade.

• If certification focuses primarily of on theeasier to certify temperate timber, thismay result in a substitution of tropicaltimber in more discriminating marketsand a shifting of the tropical timberexports to less discriminating markets.

• Certification can be inequitable, since itshigh cost means only large operationscan obtain certification, giving thempreferential export market access.

• Trade policies and pressures can lead

either to a virtuous governance cycle,providing regulatory weaknesses andexternalities are tackled, or a downwardspiral of illegality where certifiedcompanies find it difficult to compete.

• Decentralisation under poor governancesimply moves rent-seeking and continuedcorruption to a more local level.

BarriersA number of countries demonstrate thecomplexities of the role that market-basedpressures for sustainability place on trade andforest governance. Compliance with theCITES agreement for control of mahoganyhas been limited to export markets withouthaving a positive impact on the SFM for otherproducts and species. A small number ofcertified companies in the Amazon have setvery positive examples, but these have not ledto changes in the incentives in the domestictrade for the majority of companies.

Regional pressures are created by policies inproducer and consumer countries. In EastKalimantan, Indonesia, the high demand forlogs from Malaysia, China and other countrieswas fuelling the illegal export trade, incombination with the lack of stability forinternal controls. Certification efforts inIndonesia compete with the greatergovernance pressure created by the Chinalogging ban and the application of higher SFMstandards in Malaysia. In Africa, as well, animprovement in forest control in a wealthiercountry, which can afford to import forestproducts to meet a domestic market shortfall,increases the environmental and governancepressures in poorer neighbouring countries.

AdjustmentsInteresting models are being applied bycertified and other buyers seeking timberproduced from sustainable sources in complexsettings: the Star System, based on percent ofproduct content which complies with thestandards, as for recycled content, Ikea's4-step system, the Nature Conservancy's 'safe



w o o d ' m o d e l a n d m o d e l s o fperformance-based harvesting. All of thesesystems aim to support improvements in localgovernance and encourage improvements inSFM in export trade which also has an impacton domestic trade.

In Russia, investments are being planned inparallel to government efforts to establishminimum standards for forest management,apply better governance and move towardsfull certification. Certification bodies anddonors are promoting modified processes forcertification including step-wise approachesand modular certification, rather thanattempting to move immediately to anassessment of a forest managementoperation or chain of custody operation withregard to full compliance with standards andcriteria. There are discussions of parallelingcertification efforts with the imposition oftracking systems. Bolivia has brought itsforest policies line with certification anddecentralised enforcement to create positivelocal incentives for their implementation.

Further information:Dr E. Michael RichardsConsultant, IIEDTel. +44 (0)1993 779133 or [email protected]

For more information:http://www.forest-trends.org

FOREST CERTIFICATION AND SMALLFOREST ENTERPRISES: KEYTRENDS, BENEFITS AND IMPACTS

By Rebecca Butterfield

Over the past decade, small forestenterprises (SFEs), including smallholdersand non-industrial private forest owners, haveparticipated in forest certification through

forest management certificates and as part ofa certified chain of custody supply to a largerprocessing enterprise. SFEs are those thatharvest or process a small volume of timber,either due to small holding sizes or to lowproductivity of forest operations. This reviewlooked at the experience of SFE certification ina global context, highlighting their role, regionby region, in terms of land area and woodsupply. The certification of smallholders hasbeen concentrated geographically, with largenumbers of European smallholders becomingcertified under the PEFC system,non-industrial forest owners in the UnitedStates under the FSC or SFI (through the USTree Farm programme) systems, communityor group certification in Mesoamerica, andoutgrower schemes in South Africa and otherpulp-producing plantation regions. Threecertification systems were reviewed in relationto the barriers SFEs face and the benefits theycan attain under each.

Forest certification is a market-based tool thatis not effective or appropriate in allcircumstances. Ensuring equitable access toforest certification and certified productmarkets for smallholders requires targeting adistinct set of issues which are not easilyaddressed or resolved. While equity is astated objective of the FSC and other forestcertification systems, the nature and scale ofSFEs creates a number of barriers that needto be resolved for benefits to accrue and forthis be a viable option.

The experience of SFE certification raises anumber of issues: • Will SFEs continue to become certified

under existing systems? • Which systems offer lowest barriers to

access and which offer greatest potentialbenefits?

• Does certification create inequalities inaccess to wood markets for SFEs beyondusual constraints and barriers?

• Does it help or hinder market access? • Should more be done to extend or adapt



certification for SFEs? • Should tools, other than certification, be

used for SFEs to achieve SFM?

BarriersCommunity forestry operations orientedtowards subsistence use or local markets andsmall volumes of wood are simply not viablecommercial operations and are unable toafford the costs of third party certification(even with greatly reduced certification costs).Similarly, many of the very small forestowners who originally signed on for forestcertification early on have now dropped out astheir small holdings (50-100 ha) andinfrequent harvests cannot justify third partyaudits costs nor do they attract wood buyers(due to small, infrequent harvests) who mightwant certified wood. Some landowners areclearly not interested in being part of a group.This group comprises the largest drop-outrate in the Smartwood portfolio, a certifyingbody that has invested considerableresources and placed considerable emphasison the equitable inclusion of communities andother SFEs.

The barriers that SFEs face are caused bytheir low productivity and low timber output,lack of market access due to location andproductivity, lack of technical expertise,limited adoption of business anddocumentation standards that are common atlarger scales and difficulties in incorporatinglandscape-wide environmental concerns intothe certification of small timber-producingareas - wildlife values, aesthetics, recreation,suburban pressures and ecological integrity.

AdjustmentsA number of adjustments have been maderecently to the FSC forest certification systemdesigned to eliminate barriers for SFEs andthese adjustments have been analysed fromthe perspective of access and cost-benefits.

The FSC system has introduced a groupcertification option and approved a set of

modified standards for small and low-intensityoperations (SLIMFs). FSC is in the process ofrefining the criteria and indicators of SLIMFson the basis of actual certification experience.The US Tree Farm programme is a modeldesigned to assist non-industrial private forestowners so that they can afford to become partof an industrial chain of custody certifiedsupply chain. The PEFC certification model inEurope has developed a certification processfor cooperative tree owners as a form of groupcertification system. These have increasedaccess to SFEs but many of the inherentbarriers remain.

Rainforest Alliance is implementing aninnovative programme to address marketbarriers. The TREES programme works withUS and Mesoamerican SFEs in small holdermarket linkage pilots. The programmeincludes analysis of the market barriers to gaina greater understanding of the market linkageissues and technical assistance to help SFEsmake changes in selected landscapes oralong specific product lines. Market linkagesto processing industries and buyers withdemand for types of wood products generatedby SFEs are explored to increasemarketability on a small scale

Recommendations• Improve the systems of forest certification

so that they are more equitable to thescale and efficiency of SFEs so as toincrease their competitiveness in themarket.

• Recognise that SFEs face specificbarriers that will remain once theybecome certified. Provide adequate donorfinancing for complementary supportactivities that help SFEs to address thesebarriers and improve their efficiency andmarket access, including attention tomarket linkages.

• Explore alternative models for thosecommunity and smallholder forests whichdo not have sufficient market access tobenefit from forest certification but wish to



improve the sustainability andenvironmental returns from their forestoperations.

Further information:Dr Rebecca ButterfieldTraining, Research, Education, Extension andSystems (TREES) programme, RainforestAlliance65 Millet St.Richmond VT USA 05477E-mail: [email protected]

FOREST CERTIFICATION ANDCOMMUNITIES: LOOKING FORWARDTO THE NEXT DECADE

By Augusta Molnar

Since its inception, forest certification hasaimed to address social as well asenvironmental goals. For that reason, theFSC and its certifiers (mainly Smartwood) andsupporting donors have aggressivelysupported community certification. At present,about 50 community enterprises have beencertified worldwide and a number of othershave a process of certification underway. Thissmall but diverse sample provides a rich setof lessons to help guide all certificationschemes that have an interest in communityforest management.

The linkage between certification andcommunities is important because forestcommunities are increasingly major stewardsof the world's forests, especially in tropicalcountries. One quarter of the forests in thedeveloping world is currently communityowned or managed; a figure that is likely todouble in the next 15 years. This is based onthe continued recognition of indigenous andother community rights, which may easilyinclude 700-800 million ha of the total global3.6 billion ha. Until now, certification has

reached less than 1% of community forests.With no changes to certification systems, it isunlikely to reach more than 2% of allcommunity forests in the next decade. This isworrisome because of the very significantcontribution that forest communities can maketo sustainable forestry.

To understand the impact of, and barriers to,certification on communities and suggestactions for the future, Forest Trends carriedout a comprehensive evaluation of the existingstudies and case material, interviewed andorganised discussions with more than 60individuals involved in forest certification ascertifiers, accreditors, clients, researchers orpromoters.

DilemmasThere is a growing paradox betweenexpanding the area of community certificationand expanding third-party forest certificationfor industry, private individual and governmentforests. There is a strong demand for asimplification of procedures and aminimisation of costs for small-scaleenterprises including community-basedenterprises, but there is also demand for alonger and more detailed assessment with arising bar for social and environmental criteria.NGOs are particularly concerned about thecertification of industrial and state enterpriseswhere land tenure rights of indigenouspeoples and other local residents are notestablished. Recent debates in Indonesia overthe potential certification of state-ownedforests include unresolved dilemmas over thetreatment of high-value conservation forest,treatment of local property rights, corruptionamong authorities and companies, and issuesof labour conditions and local benefit sharing.There is also a growing tension betweenincreasing the amount of certified timber andwood products so that the certified marketscan grow and increase market share, andestablishing and applying sufficiently rigorousstandards to maintain the credibility of theforest certification instrument.



BarriersMuch fewer communities have qualified forcertification than expected and, to date, theexperience has been confined mainly toMexico, Canada, USA, Guatemala and thePhilippines. While a number of newcommunities are in the process of scoping orassessment for new certification, a number ofissues have emerged that create barriers.Many communities face policy and regulatorybarriers to extracting and processing forestproducts, or controlling rights to theenvironmental services generated. The costof the assessment and auditing process ishigh for small operations. Given the fact mostcommunity enterprises are incipient, therehave been numerous pre-conditions orconditions for them to qualify for certification,requiring them to seek donor financing to payfor these or substantially increase costsrelative to their returns. Communities arefound in more remote areas where marketsare not developed for certified products anddo not pay a premium, making the additionalcost impractical.

The small-scale and incipient nature ofcommunity operations has made it difficult forcommunities to generate the quantity andquality of products that a certified marketwould demand. Communities are too risky aninvestment to attract the required finance andface internal constraints to makeorganisational changes towards a moreprofitable business model. Where culturaldifferences are large between certifiers andcommunities, the process of certification canalso come into conflict with the natural path ofevolution of the community enterprise and itsnatural resource management models.

AdjustmentsSome recent innovations introduced bycertifiers address a number of these issues.Recently, the application of rules for Smalland Low-Intensity Managed Forests (SLIMFs)was approved by the FSC General Assemblywith provisions for group certification within

them and there are proposals for introducinga step-wise or modular certification to providemore time to achieve best practices.

More adjustments are still needed.Certification schemes need to recognise thelarger set of client communities dependent onmultiple income streams or just starting upenterprises. Communities with multiple incomestreams face the dilemma of which products tocertify: wood, non-wood, conservationpractices, environmental services oreco-agriculture. So far, we have no answer forthese communities, either in helping themevolve into enterprises, bear the cost of moresustainable management by linking them tomarkets, or fight the battle for greaterresource rights and access.

RecommendationsForest Trends recommends two related setsof actions, both of which require more activecollaboration among the various stakeholders:• Revisit the objectives of certification and

modify the criteria and indicators andprocess of certification to reach a widerrange of forest communities, takingadvantage of long-standing practices ofcommunities that achieve the same set ofgoals, but in a different way.

• In forest communities for which forestcertification is not a currently viableoption, efforts are needed to foster andexpand coverage of alternative SFMinstruments (fair trade, ethnical collectionstandards, the deregulation of marketbarriers, the devolution of rights andresponsibilities and business support).Alternatives must address the multipleincome streams that many forestcommunities derive from the forest toensure that the SFM instrument is notexcessively expensive.

Reference:Molnar, A. (2003). Forest certification andcommunities: looking forward to the nextdecade. Washington: Forest Trends. Available



on www.forest-trends.org.

Further information:Dr Augusta MolnarForest Trends1050 Potomac Street NW20007 Washington DC USAE-mail: [email protected]

S U S T A I N A B L E F O R E S TMANAGEMENT IN BRAZIL AND THER O L E O F F S C F O R E S TCERTIFICATION

By Andre de Freitas

It is very likely that FSC certification has beenthe initiative that has had the greatest impacton world forestry in the last ten years. Atleast, this has been the case as far as BrazilI concerned. Forest certification in the FSCsystem can be considered a globalphenomenon, with basic standards and rulesapplicable to all forests in the world. Besidesthat, in many cases, operations that seekcertification in developing countries areoriented towards foreign markets, for whichFSC can provide an advantage.

Forest certification in the FSC system ishelping to change the face of forestry in Brazilby providing a way to increase the importanceof social and environmental aspects indecision-making processes. This is donethrough a credible identification of SFMinitiatives, which provides market and imagebenefits to forest operations.

Changing outlookThe outlook for sustainable forestmanagement has changed dramatically inBrazil in the last decade. In 1993, forexample, attempts at managing forestssustainably were restricted to a few isolated

research initiatives.

In 1995, a group named Precious Woodsstarted a forest operation with the objective ofimplementing a sustainable forestmanagement proposal. With this in mind, theyinvested in forest areas, equipment, trainingand personnel. The operation was called MilMadeireira Itacoatiara and was located closeto Manaus.

Certification was deemed crucial for theproject, which was aimed at the Europeanmarket, and in 1997 their operation receivedFSC certification. To achieve this, they hadhad to recognise the land rights of traditionalcommunities living inside the forest areasadopt reduced impact logging practices andprovide good working conditions foremployees.

ChallengesMil Madeireira had to deal with a great manychallenges. There was no similar operation inBrazil that had proved that SFM would work,or that it would be economically viable. Thespecies being managed were unknown on themarket and were hard to sell. In its first years,Mil Madeireira did not break even and thetropical forest industry was quite content tocarry on conducting business as usual,claiming that sustainable forest managementdid not work and things should stay the waythey had always been.

Then, it all started to change. Some of thehistorically unsustainable operations startedsimilar sustainable forest management andFSC certification initiatives. The PreciousWoods operation broke even, proving thatsustainable forest management was indeed asound business. Considering Mil Madeireirapart of a learning curve, they decided to startanother forest operation in the Amazon, whichwas certified a little over six months after itstarted. Precious Woods also became the firsttropical forestry enterprise in the world to belisted on the stock market .



The situation todayCurrently, there are five FSC certified largeforest operations in the Brazilian Amazon andseveral others engaged in the certificationprocess. Together, they represent the mostadvanced commercial forestry initiative in thecountry. The changes made are related toworking conditions, health and safety, foodand lodging for workers, increased planningand reduced impact on the forest, betterefficiency of forest operations and, morerecently, the use of ecological criteria for themanagement of species or groups of species.

FSC certification has been a key element inthis process, facilitating changes through anindependent assessment of social,environmental and economic issues related toforestry. In many cases, certification hasenabled forest managers to gain leveragewith regard to implementing better forestrypractices on the ground.

Certification has also impacted communityforestry in Brazil. Community forestry in thecountry has gained momentum in the last fiveyears, with several initiatives throughout theAmazon. According to a recent estimate,there are more than 15 community forestprojects in the region.

Most of these projects are supported byNGOs or social movements and, in a fewcases, by research institutions such asEmbrapa. In general, the term communityforestry in the Brazilian Amazon has a verybroad understanding and comprehends anyforestry initiative that involves traditionalcommunities, such as rubber tappers andriverside populations (ribeirinhos), peasantsand indigenous peoples.

FSC certification has been of interest to theseprojects, as it provides a means of improvingforest management, guaranteeing to donorsand stakeholders that the initiative is workingtowards sustainable forest management andproviding a market differentiation for their

products, and sometimes, even a pricepremium.

At present, there are three community forestoperations certified in the Brazilian Amazonand close to ten others in the process ofbecoming certified or that are interested in theissue. There is also a growing trend to certifycommunity forest management of non-timberforest products. This has been largely led bya demand from the cosmetic industry, which isbecoming increasingly aware of theimportance of responsible sourcing of theirinputs.

Further information:Andre de Freitas, Executive DirectorIMAFLORACaixa Postal 411 CEP 13400-970 Piracicaba - SP BrazilE-mail: [email protected]: www.imaflora.org

COMPARISON OF STANDARDS FORTHE EVALUATION OF SUSTAINABLEFOREST MANAGEMENT BETWEENCOUNTRIES FROM THE SOUTH ANDTHE NORTH

By Bart Holvoet and Bart Muys

The number of initiatives focused on theevaluation of sustainable forest managementhas risen considerably since the UNCEDConference in Rio de Janeiro (1992). A largenumber of countries have already drawn up aset of Principles, Criteria and Indicators. Inmost of the cases this development took placewithin the framework of an intergovernmentalor international initiative. Other national andinternational organisations have also beeninvolved in the development of such sets or



'standards'. In our study, we collected andcompared the contents of a large number ofstandards. Although most standards sharedthe same main elements, there also appearedto be substantial differences between thestandards.

Differences between standardsThe level of application - the 'forestmanagement unit' (FMU) or the 'national level'- appeared to be a major difference.Standards developed for the national level areless detailed and consist mostly of monitoringaspects at a regional scale. The moredetailed FMU standards combine bothmonitoring aspects and a number ofmanagement aspects.

Another important difference between thestandards can be traced back to differentgeographical origins. Standards fromcountries in the South place a greateremphasis on the social and economic forestfunctions, while those originating from theNorth pay relatively more attention to theecological forest functions. One of the mostimportant differences between standards fromthe North and the South is their use ofresearch-related aspects. The managementcapacity and research capabilities related tosustainable forest management are far less inevidence in the South than in the countries ofthe North.

ChallengesA policy challenge is now to find out whetherit is a good idea to maintain the observeddifferences between sustainable forestmanagement standards or whether it wouldbe preferable to harmonise them. In thosecases in which the differences reflectdiverging local conditions such as ecosystemfunctioning, management techniques andtraditions and market opportunities,differences are legitimate and should bemaintained. However, when differences arecaused by a lack of capacity or

socio-economical inequities, we recommenda harmonisation of the standards.

Forest certification in the South is in itsinfancy. However, sustainable forestmanagement is needed just as badly or insome cases even more urgently than in mostof the North. Local and international effortsshould be made to increase capacity andequity. Logging companies working in theSouth should be guided to engage insustainable forest management by NGOpressure, by means of national regulations, orby market pressure. The donor communitycould support efforts to realise sustainableforest management in the South by assistingthe development of proper national regulationsand efficient national forest services. In thisway, a more harmonised and better forestmanagement can be attained worldwide.

Further information:Bart Holvoet and Prof. Dr Bart MuysLaboratory for Forest, Nature and LandscapeResearch, Katholieke Universiteit LeuvenVital Decosterstraat 102 B-3000 Leuven BelgiumE-mail: [email protected]

CAPACITY BUILDING IN FORESTCERTIFICATION: LINKING ANI N T E R N A T I O N A L M A R K E TM E C H A N I S M T O N A T I O N A LINITIATIVES

By Anne C. de Fraiture and Wouter LeenHijweege

Forest certification is gaining recognition as auseful market instrument for linkinginternational customer concern withsustainable forest management. The adoptionand application of forest certification in tropical



countries remains limited, however whiletemperate forests are forging ahead. Basedon the EU's assumption that a lack ofinformation and knowledge about sustainableforest management and forest certification isone of the main obstacles to the adoption ofcertification in tropical forestry, GTZ and IACjointly implemented the 'Inter-institutionalDevelopment of Training Capacity in ForestCertification' project in 77 ACP countriesbetween January 2000 and March 2003. Inthe participating countries, the projectsupported stakeholders in forestmanagement, encouraging their participationin national and regional forest certificationinitiatives.

StrategyGiven their number and diversity, the ACPcountries were grouped into ten regions withone core country each. For each region, acapacity building strategy was developed andregional focal point organisations (RFPs)were identified to coordinate theimplementation of this strategy and tomaintain a network for the exchange ofexperiences. Given the project's restrictedfinancial and human resources, capacitybuilding activities concentrated largely on thecore countries, with a focus on nationalactivities. To support the capacity buildingprocesses in the regions, a project websitewas created containing a toolbox and learningplatform on forest certification. This materialwas later adapted to specific regional and/ornational circumstances during regionaltraining-of-trainer courses.

Lessons learnt1. Project impact and sustainability differedmarkedly and was determined mainly by thecountry's starting position and progress inestablishing forest certification. The projectapproach to focussing on support for new orongoing certification processes allowedsufficient flexibility to handle thesedifferences, but increased the projectmanagement requirements e.g. in providing

adequate back stopping.

2. The aforementioned national and regionalintervention in forest certification was notsuccessful in all countries. Obviously, theproject's basic assumption of a lack ofinformation among stakeholders involved inforest certification was only partially valid. Inmost countries, a multitude of factors affectedthe certification process, such as:• Disturbed working relations between

different stakeholder groups, for exampleprivate companies and governmentalorganisations. Yet elsewhere, thedevelopment of national standards andprocedures through stakeholderconsultations and national working groupsbrought various stakeholder groupstogether successfully for the first time.

• The role and mandate of the players inthe national processes needed dueattention. For example, the dominant roleof the government in forest managementand its supervision tasks complicateddiscussions. Some governments still seecertification as a controlling and steeringmechanism within their role and mandaterather than an independent marketmechanism. Similarly, private sectorrepresentatives proved to be hesitant toshare views on certification and forestmanagement issues with colleagues,government and NGOs, because theyregard it as their own responsibility.

• Limited market signals in the absence ofa timber export market. Certification forsustainable forest management has beendeveloped for the (international) timbertrade and experiences with certification ofnon-timber products and other forestfunctions and services (e.g. tourism,watershed management) being limited.This needs to be developed, sincemarketing these products can contributeto the sustainable management of forestresources.

3. Adopting a process approach to capacity



building and placing it in a perspective oflonger-term change with multiple stakeholderinvolvement will contribute to a sense ofownership among the parties involved.However, the initiation of such a sociallearning process requires time, money andlong-term support from donors. Thus,capacity building evolves from providingtraining to individuals to providing variousforms of support, training and coaching bothfor individuals and organisations in order todevelop new roles and working methods.Apart from technical information about forestcertification and training-of-trainers, attentionshifts to such issues as communication,governance and conflict management.

4. The project offered national stakeholdergroups (governmental, non-governmental andprivate sector) a neutral platform on which tostart a dialogue and to exchange views. Inmost countries this aspect of neutralism wasessential in order to get the majorstakeholders around the table and to get theprocess started. This resulted in somecountries in the (re-)establishment of nationalworking groups.

5. After all, up-to-date information andespecially communication play an importantrole in building support, trust and mutualunderstanding among stakeholder groups inthe transformation to sustainable forestmanagement. Information management isone of the mechanisms for maintainingmomentum in an ongoing learning processamong the various stakeholders and maytake many different forms. However, theactive involvement of stakeholders is onecommon denominator. The project's digitaltoolbox and learning platform on forestcertification has been developed as anetworking tool that is to continue playing afacilitating role in building an information baseand platform for sharing experiences (seehttp://www.gtz.de/capacity_building orhttp://www.iac.wur.nl/forestcertification).

ConclusionLinking an international market mechanismsuch as forest certification to several nationalinitiatives for sustainable forest managementis a complicated activity with far-reachinginstitutional implications. Instead of astraight-forward training approach for thetransfer of technical expertise, aprocess-oriented capacity building effort tosupport learning among a network of involvedparties is required. It is essential that thenational context and institutional setting istaken as a starting point for theimplementation of project activities.Furthermore, flexibility in strategies andapproaches to adapting project activities to theactual situation of the stakeholders and toresponding to the evolving capacity buildingrequirements requires high-level commitmentfrom the project management.

Further information:Anne C. de Fraiture and Wouter LeenHijweegeInternational Agricultural CentreP.O. Box 88 6700 AB Wageningen The Netherlands

E-mail: [email protected] [email protected]

Website:http://www.iac.wur.nl/forestcertification

REMOTE SENSING AND GIS FORSUPPORTING SUSTAINABLE FORESTMANAGEMENT CERTIFICATION INTHE TROPICS

By Cui Yijun, Yousif Ali Hussin and Ali Sharifi

Forest certification is a process for verifyingwhether a forest is sustainably managed ornot. Certain criteria and indicators are used in



this process. The Indonesian Institute forEco-Labelling (LEI), based on the guidelinesdeveloped by International Tropical TimberOrganisation (ITTO), Forest StewardshipCouncil (FSC) and the Centre for InternationalForestry Research (CIFOR), has compiled acomprehensive set of criteria and indicatorsfor the Indonesian certification of sustainableforest management (SFM). Under anagreement made by FSC and LEI in 2000, allthe certification bodies operating in Indonesiaare to use this set of C&I only. How toeffectively and objectively assess the forestmanagement performance against thesecriteria and indicators has become animportant issue.

Remote sensing as a source ofinformationIn order to carry out sustainable forestmanagement certification efficiently andmonitor already certified forest managementperformance objectively, unambiguous andtimely information about the target forestareas is needed. It is not feasible in terms ofboth money and time to obtain informationpertaining to large and, usually, remote forestareas using only field surveys. Remotesensing data and techniques must thereforebe considered. In fact it is the only way toobtain timely information on large and remotetropical rain forest areas. Theoretically, thereis no doubt that remote sensing data can bea useful tool in supporting the acquirement ofthis information. However, because of thenewness of SFM certification there are stillmany unknowns concerning the application ofremote sensing in order to supportcertification.

Scope of the studyThe research objective was to investigate theextent to which remotely sensed satelliteimages and GIS can be used to support theforest certification process in Indonesia.Landsat-7 satellite images were used as wellas object-oriented image analysis for imageclassification. GIS was used for the integrated

analysis of classification results and othergeographic data.

The selected study area was the Labananforest, which is located in Berau regency inIndonesia (one of the four regencies in EastKalimantan province). Inhutani I, astate-owned forest concession company, hasmanaged this area for more than 30 years andselective logging has been carried out since1970.

The potentialThe results revealed that there is greatpotential for using Landsat satellite imagesand object-oriented image analysis to extractinformation to support the forest certificationprocess. Several indicators can be positivelyassessed using remotely sensed data, imageprocessing and GIS analysis.

Further information:Cui Yijun, Dr Yousif Ali Hussin and Dr AliSharifiThe International Institute for GeoinformationScience and Earth Observation (ITC) Hengelostraat 99, 7500 AA EnschedeThe Netherlands

E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected];[email protected]

BEYOND TIMBER: CERTIFICATION OFNON-TIMBER FOREST PRODUCTS

By Patricia Shanley

Certification is part of a growing trend withregard to defining standards for social andenvironmental performance in naturalresource management. Started in response toconsumer demand for sustainably sourcedproducts, the concept has taken hold in a



number of sectors including the food, healthcare and forest product industries. In forestry,certification began in the wood productsindustry, only recently including non-timberforest products. Because the term non-timberforest products (NTFPs) encompasses sucha vast array of goods, various certificationschemes are being applied, with variedsuccess and relevance. This review positionsNTFPs within the context of sustainable forestproduct certification and within thedevelopment of broader standards andcertification for NTFPs and related products(organics, authentication and quality control).There are broader implications of standards,for example as a tool to influence consumerchoice, to form the basis of industryassociation standards (of collecting andmanagement), corporate policies, and/orlegislation.

There are 36 products that have standardsestablished within the forest certificationstandards, 32 of them in Brazil. Certificationhas focused on products with commercialrelevance but for which there is a goodinformation base of management concernsand a known set of collectors whose activitiescan be monitored and confirmed. They arealso products with a marketing chain to aproduct for which the NTFP is the main orprimary ingredient.

DilemmaRecent efforts to certify NTFPs raisequestions about the impact of thismarket-based tool on local producers andcommunities. Drawing from case studies inLatin America, we find that there are manyimped imen ts to t he success fu limplementation of NTFP certification. Theseimpediments range from unorganised andpowerless laborers to basic difficulties incommercialising NTFPs in the face of anundeveloped demand for certified productsamong businesses and consumers. The nextgeneration of NTFP certification will be morecomplex due to faulty information on

management and biological characteristics ofthe species, multiple chains of collectors,managers and processors, the volatility ofNTFP markets and the importance of manyNTFPs which are only a small part of the finalproduct to be marketed.

There are strong interests in developingstandards from industry associationsinterested in the sustainability of the supply ofthreatened species and in preventingcompetition from lower-quality products.Health organisations and governments areincreasingly concerned with standards, whileproducers seek clear guidelines for harvestingand management that can be communicatedclearly and successfully applied to ensuretheir own income streams. In most casesthere is a lot of conflicting information: aplethora of guidelines, the weakness andinconsistency of standards and a lack ofintegration into market chains or other tradelabelling initiatives (organic or fair trade, forexample).

Apart from a limited set of products, NTFPcertification can be extremely costly asregards standards development andapplication to varied ecological settings. Evenwithin a given region in a given country,standards can be impossible to apply wherethere are multiple types of collectors overdispersed areas with public tenure. Smallproducers may be unable to apply thesestandards due to a lack of information or lackof market return for their application.Particularly in the cosmetic industry whereindividual NTFPs are only a small portion ofthe final product, there is little market incentiveto certify. In addition, some products can bequite vulnerable to product substitution orfashion and expensive processes ofcertification should only be applied to thoseNTFPs likely to maintain a reasonable marketshare over time.

AdjustmentsThere are a number of successful experiences



that can be expanded to other products -rattan, maple syrup, chicle, palm heart andwood carvings. For species which are difficultto certify there are a number of alternativeswhich could be more systematically applied tonew countries and new markets, includingethnical standards for collectors' associations,permit systems which coincide with collectionoptions and requirements, fair trade modelsand the provision of greater tenure security tospecific sets of collectors and producers.Parallel to this, government regulations oftenneed modifying in order to remove marketbarriers for small-scale producers and toeliminate counterproductive permitting andtaxation systems that reduce the returnsavailable to the producer.

It appears that the process of creating NTFPcertification standards may create positiveripple effects among producers, traders,companies and policy makers by planting theseeds for a vision of more socially andenvironmentally responsible management ofNTFP resources. We conclude that the abilityof certification to bring about wider socialchange indirectly may prove to be of greaterlasting impact to rural livelihoods and NTFPmanagement than labeling and marketing.

Further information:Patricia ShanleyCIFORP.O. Box 6596, JKPWB, Jakarta 10065IndonesiaE-mail: [email protected] (general inquiries);[email protected]: http://www.cifor.cgiar.org andhttp://www.forest-trends.org

VI L I N K I N G G L O B A LCONSERVATION OBJECTIVES ANDLOCAL USE OF FOREST ANDWILDLIFE RESOURCES

Globalisation and localisation haveimproved the mix of actors involved inforest management. Forest managementis no longer in the hands of a single entity(whether government, NGO or localcommunity), but increasingly the productof negotiations and joint actions betweenplayers at global and local level. On theground, new partnerships for theprotection and co-management of forestresources are being created, involvinginternational donors, governmentagencies, national and internationalNGOs, private sector actors, researchorganisations and communities. Thesemulti-scale and multi-stakeholderpartnerships in forest management havethe potential to link global conservationobjectives with local needs, thus creatingsynergy. However, they do notautomatically eliminate power imbalancesand conflicting interests. The followingcontributions discuss the opportunitiesand difficulties of reconciling globalconservation objectives with local needs,and the ways in which power imbalancesand conflicting interests can beovercome.

S International organisations, civil societyand tropical forest management (EeroPalmujoki)

S Strategic partnerships to combat forestconversion and the role of financialinstitutions (Jan Joost Kessler)

S Beyond community-based conservation:policy and institutional arrangements forpartnership in forest biodiversitymanagement (James Gichia Njogu)



S Not by maize alone: forest access andrural livelihoods in southwest Ethiopia(Yihenew Zewdie)

S Global forest management decisions andlocal use of forest resources in Kenya:exploring the link (Wario R. Adano andKaren Witsenburg)

S Local people and local benefits inintegrated biodiversity conservation: acase study from Ranomafana,Madagascar (Maija Kaisa Korhonen)

S Assessing mammal status in tropical rainforests using local knowledge (ChristiaanA. van der Hoeven)

S Biodiversity conservation throughburning: a case study of woodlands in theBudongo Forest Reserve, NW Uganda(Grace Nangendo, Oliver van Straatenand Alfred de Gier)

S Is sustainable mangrove managementpossible in the Red River delta ofVietnam? (Le Thi Van Hue)

INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS,CIVIL SOCIETY AND TROPICALFOREST MANAGEMENT

By Eero Palmujoki

Our review deals with the policies andinteraction of the world's major economicorganisations - the IMF, World Bank andWTO - with regard to tropical forestry, inparticular their policies on civil society's role insustainable forest management.

We analyse this role from two points of view.First, the multidimensional character ofinternational organisations and possibleimpacts of these organisations' primary aimsare examined. The multidimensionalcharacter means that although theseinternational organisations focus on particularissues, such as poverty reduction, they have

adopted a broader approach includingenvironmental concerns and sustainabledevelopment. This has been evident at theWorld Bank, but also increasingly at the IMFand the WTO. Second, we scrutinise the roleof civil society in the policies and agendas ofthese international organisations, in particularwith respect to the environment and tropicalforestry. The first issue that emerges here isthat the civil society empowerment modelapplied by the World Bank, in which the IMFhas also engaged through the generaldiscussion with the NGOs, has been appliedin the environmental projects of multilateralfinancial institutions during the last decade.The second issue concerns newmarket-based mechanisms, for example forestcertification which constitutes anotherimportant field in which the non-governmentalsector and international organisations areinteracting. This raises interesting questionsregarding sovereignty.

The mechanisms of governance, in whichnon-governmental actors play visible rolesalongside international and governmentalagencies, generate new tendencies ininternational relations. It is justified tocharacterise these mechanisms ofgovernance as phenomena of internationalrelations for their own sake. It is also possibleto speak about the privatisation ofinternational regulations, on the one hand, andabout the politicisation of private measures, onthe other. In these cases the issue is that thenon-governmental players - NGOs and othercivil society organisations, businessenterprises and local communities - with orwithout the international organisations,supersede the governmental authorities.

Interestingly enough, these mechanisms arebecoming increasingly important for theinternational governance of forestry.Concerning tropical forests, in particular, newmeasures emphasise both the tendency ofprivatisation and politicisation. Thepoliticisation is due to the definitions of



sustainable forest management thatinternational organisations and NGOs adoptand the privatisation is partly due to the waythese measures are implemented.

The concept of civil societyThe idea of governance derives its conceptsfrom economic liberalism and politicalpluralism. Both of them resist strong centralgovernment and authority over citizens. Thecentral concept connecting economic andpolitical aspects of liberal governance is civilsociety.

Although the concept of civil society isambiguous, both multilateral financialinstitutions and national and internationalNGOs eagerly implement it. In tropicalforestry, four patterns can be identified:• The first is a typical pattern of

international organisation-nationalg o v e r n m e n t - o p e r a t i o n a l N G Ocooperation, in which the internationalorganisation realises its projects throughgovernments and NGOs or directlyt h r o u g h N G O s . T h e p o l i c yimplementation is more or less in thehands of an operational NGO.

• The second is the case of the role of anadvocacy NGO in which the internationalorganisation and the NGO have a moreor less direct relationship that is reflectedin the policy of the internationalorganisation towards the governments.

• In the third case the state is active aswell, or is even manipulating theinternational organisations and theNGOs.

• In the fourth case, the NGO or anotherprivate actor has been accepted as anintegral part of governance together withthe states and the internationalorganisations.

All these patterns reflect changes ininternational relations as well as in nationalforest policies in an interesting way. The firsttwo patterns refer primarily to the policies

initiated by the international organisation andto a certain extent by the NGOs. They varyfrom the particular forest projects ofmultilateral financial institutions, such as thePilot Programme to Conserve the BrazilianRain Forest (PPG7) to the link betweenforestry and the funding and loan conditions ofthe World Bank and the IMF. These kinds ofconditions - although their effectiveness hasbeen criticised - have been recentlyimplemented in the important tropicaltimber-producing countries of Indonesia andBrazil.

The third and fourth cases refer to forestcertification. They differ from the earlier casesbecause the roles of the internationalorganisations can be more or less responsiveand they have not been very active in creatingthese kinds of regulative mechanisms.Originally the idea of forest certification wasput forward by the non-governmental sector,but - as the third pattern shows - there havebeen significant attempts to create nationalcertification programmes, in whichgovernmental or semi-governmental agenciesplay important roles.

The way in which these developments andpatterns enforce civil society and sustainableforest management is a question ofimportance. These mechanisms are still sonovel that their efficiency for sustainable forestmanagement cannot be clearly proven.Theoretically they have already changed theposition of the sovereign state in globalenvironmental governance. Similarly, thesed e v e l o p m e n t s h a v e e n f o r c e dnon-governmental environmental regulationand these regulations have spread tonon-forest sectors, thereby emphasising thepoliticisation of forestry measures.

Further information:Eero PalmujokiDepartment of Political Science andInternational Relations33014 University of Tampere



FinlandE-mail: [email protected]

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS TOCOMBAT FOREST CONVERSION ANDT H E R OLE OF F I N A N C I A LINSTITUTIONS

By Jan Joost Kessler

Continuing forest conversion processes resultfrom the expansion of agro-industrialindustries responding to global markets andconsumers demands. The role of financialinstitutions is critical in funding theseprocesses, but the role of this actor has so farnot been properly addressed. Strongnorth-south collaboration has been effectiveas regards linking local problems to globalprivate sector actors. Strategic partnershipsbetween environmental NGOs and privatesector innovators (retailers and financialinstitutions) are critical for bringing aboutchange and for convincing 'mainstream'actors.

Underlying causesIn recent decades, much attention has beenpaid to logging for timber as the major activitythat causes the decline of primary forests. Ithas led to the development of sustainableforest management practices and thecertification of timber based on sustainablemanagement principles. However, thisapproach has ignored several importantcauses of continuing forest decline, such asforest fires in Indonesia. AIDEnvironment tookup this issue and coordinated action-researchaimed at:• understanding the dynamics and root

causes of forest conversion;• identifying the key actors involved; and • developing and implementing solution

strategies.

The research is being undertaken in various

countries using a model that is generallyapplicable to problems of illegal andunsustainable exploitation of naturalresources. A critical aspect of the research isthe collaboration between southern (local) andnorthern (Dutch) environmental NGOs, with aview to acquiring evidence of the localproblems and their impacts on stakeholders,unravel the causal linkages with private sectoractors from the Netherlands and Europeoperating at a global scale, and then activelyaddress these actors as well as Westernconsumers.

Forest conversion for monoculturesForest conversion is the continuous process ofdeclining forest functions leading toman-made monocultures with low biodiversity,causing a loss of economic value andnegative socio-economic impacts on localcommunities. The forest conversion processpasses from primary (natural) forest to loggedor residual or secondary forest, and finallyconverted forest. The driving forces for forestconversion are often found beyond theforestry sector. In Indonesia, palm oilplantations are largely responsible for forestconversion; the area affected has increasedby 530% since 1985. It was estimated that oilpalm plantation owners started more than50% of the forest fires. While internationalpressure has led to increasingly stringentregulations for selective logging, forestclearing for oil palm plantations is bound byless stringent regulations. It is estimated thatin 2000 forest conversion accounted for 40%of Indonesia's legal timber and pulpwoodsupply. Similar processes are the expansionof soy monocultures (Brazil), cotton (WesternAfrica) and pulpwood plantations (Indonesia).

The role of the private sectorThe profitabil ity of agro-industrialmonocultures constitutes a driving forcebehind the forest conversion process thatdoes not seem to be fully recognised. Thescale and the rapid speed of forest conversionis unprecedented. This can be explained by



the connections with global commoditymarkets. The 'resource-trade-cycle' modeldescribes how consumer markets are relatedto resource management and forestconversion processes. There are two basicflows that connect consumer markets with theresource: capital flows and product flows.Capital is channelled to the producer throughfinancial institutions. For instance, theexpansion of oil palm estates in Indonesia islargely financed by financial institutions whichare subsidiaries of international banks.Depending on the type of credit provided,financial institutions can strongly influencetheir clients' policies. It is remarkable that therole of financial institutions as a driving factorand root cause of forest conversion has so farbeen ignored. Product flows from producer tothe consumer market are generated by arange of actors involved in trade, processingand retail of products. The consumerscontribute, through their savings, to thecreation of the financial resources that feedthe process.

SolutionsThe action-research has resulted in a numberof solution strategies. These result from acritical combination of:• joint actions by environmental NGOs to

put key private sector actors underpressure, by informing consumers,making known illegal acts andcontributions to deforestation, thusputting the reputation of the companyunder pressure ('pushing' strategy); and

• strategic partnerships with private sectorinnovators and early adopters, offeringand developing alternative options, moresustainable practices, better policies andsupport by environmental NGOs ('pulling'strategy).

With respect to the Indonesia case, this hasresulted so far in the following progress:• Following a major campaign by

consumers, three Dutch banks - ABNAMRO Bank, Rabobank and Fortis Bank

- decided to stop or substantially restrictthe financing of oil palm plantations forwhich tropical rainforest is purposelydestroyed. They have expressed the needto work towards alternative approachesand to do so are in close contact withenvironmental NGOs. One result of thiscollaboration is the formulation of a forestpolicy for financial institutions now readyfor adoption.

• Some large companies have cancelledinvestments in oil palm plantations or pulpindustries, partly as a result of pressure.As a result of partnerships withenvironmental NGOs, some retailers areworking on the development of palm oilthat is produced in a more sustainablemanner, adopting better practices andbeing 'HCV-free' (not derived from thecutting of high conservation forests).

• At a local level there have been variouscourt cases supporting local communitiesand workers on oil palm plantations intheir cases against illegal exploitation orsocial injustice. To succeed, the supportfrom northern NGOs is important.

A similar approach has been adopted for othercases of forest conversion resulting fromprivate sector involvement, and the role offinancial institutions in financing these.

Further information:Jan Joost KesslerAIDEnvironment, Amsterdam, the NetherlandsDonker Curtiusstraat 7/5231051JL AmsterdamThe NetherlandsE-mail: [email protected]



BEYOND COMMUNITY-BASEDCONSERVATION: POLICY ANDINSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTSFOR PARTNERSHIP IN FORESTBIODIVERSITY MANAGEMENT

By James Gichiah Njogu

The emerging partnerships betweenstakeholders resulting from decentralisationand globalisation bring new challenges toforest conservation. Multi-stakeholderpartnerships are increasingly shapingbiodiversity conservation. Using the case ofthe Taita forest in Kenya, we aim todemonstrate how multi-level stakeholder andpartnership arrangements can enhancecommunity-based forest conservation andlead to sustainability.

We argue that combining a multi-stakeholderapproach with the entitlement approach is away of gaining more specific insight into theinterests, values, attitudes and interactionsbetween various stakeholders. Combiningboth approaches into one research frameworkallows us to be more specific about thepotentials and constraints of partnerships incommunity-based forest conservation.

This goes beyond various forms of user-groupparticipation that are based on a rathernarrow conception of 'interest' and'affectedness' in which inclusion andparticipations are largely confined to usergroups proper. Indeed, a successfulconservation strategy requires the integrationof values and interests of a range of humanstakeholders and actors well beyond the usergroup proper to those who knowingly orunknowingly enjoy ecosystem services.Although these people may occupy the sameecosystem or conservation area, they arevery different as regards political andeconomic power, options and level of interest

in a place and its resources. The fact thatthere are multiple interests and stakeholdersin biodiversity and forest conservation and thatthey range from local people to distantoutsiders cannot be ignored.

New actorsIn the case of the Taita forest, considerabledegrees of authority, including those in forestmanagement, are transferred to lower levelsof government. In this process, new actors inforest and biodiversity conservation came tothe fore. This not only means district and localgovernments, but also NGOs, forestcommunities, individuals, community-basedorganisations (CBOs) and the private sector.While decentralised forest administrationcreates space for greater participation of theseactors in the decision-making process inKenya, the same has not been addressed inforest law. Thus far, no provisions areavailable for complaints of misuse andexcessive clearing of forests. However,following the challenges of the emergingpartnerships, new laws are being made suchas the 'Environment Management andCoordination Act 2000' that is now beingimplemented and a draft Forest bill which isyet to be enacted. These laws may allowintegration of stakeholders in forestmanagement through social and economicincentives.

In forest and biodiversity conservation, theconcept of stakeholder was evoked onlyrecently for application in community-basedconservation and co-management efforts.However, the use of this concept has nostrong theoretical basis. In this article wedefine stakeholders 'as to include variousinstitutions, social groups and individuals whopossess a direct, significant and specific stakein the protected areas'. The stake mayoriginate from institutional mandate,geographical proximity, historical association,dependence for livelihood, economic interestand a variety of other capacities andconcerns. In this regard, we identify



stakeholders based on three attributes:• Stakeholders are aware of their interest• Stakeholders possess specific capacities

such as knowledge, skills or expertiseand/or comparative advantages such asproximity or mandate

• Stakeholders bear the cost or are willingto invest specific resources includingtime, money and political authority orinfluence management instruments.

Diverging interestsIn view of the entitlement rights, thestakeholders have specific rights related toownership, use and managementinterventions. Nevertheless, not allstakeholders are equally interested inconserving a resource, nor are they equallyentitled to have a role in resourcesmanagement. It is convenient therefore todistinguish between primary and secondarystakeholders. Primary stakeholders scorehigh on several counts, while the secondarystakeholders score high on one or two countsonly. In collaborative management processes,primary stakeholders would assume an activerole such as decision-making or holding aseat on the management board, whilesecondary stakeholders would be involved inless active ways such as holding a seat in aconsultative body. In addition to the threeattributes of stakeholder identification, moredetailed accounts form criteria fordistinguishing stakeholders. Based on theTaita forest case, these accounts include thefollowing:• Historical and cultural relation with forest

resources• Existing rights to land or forest resources• Continuity of relationship (e.g. residents

versus visitors and tourists) with forestresources

• Unique knowledge and skill for the forestmanagement

• Losses and damage incurred in the forestmanagement process

• Degree of effort and interest in forestmanagement

• Equity in the access to the forestresources and the distribution of benefitsfrom their use

• Compatibility of the interest and socialand economic activities of the stakeholderwith national forest conservation anddevelopment policies

• Present or potential impact of theactivities of the stakeholder on the forestresource base.

There is no clear line between these accounts,which are also very dynamic . However, theycan be used conveniently to group variousstakeholders. For these groups to be involveddirectly in forest resource and biodiversitymanagement they must be organisedaccordingly and recognised through policiesand by laws. Such organisation may includethe district councils, the village council, aforest user's society or a local chapter of aunion of indigenous people. The'stakeholder-ship' of these organisations mustbe coordinated. This is the role of a nationalcoordinating agency.

ChallengeThe main challenge in the new policy andinstitutional arrangement relates to therelationship between agencies in charge offorest conservation (which may or may not bethe coordinating agency) and its stakeholders.Often, the relationship is not as good as wouldbe desired. Criteria for analysing theserelationships need to be developed.

In conclusion, stakeholders in forestbiodiversity management will generally fall intoone or more of the following categories: thosewhose interests are affected by forests and/orby management strategies and action plans,as well as those whose activities significantlyaffect forests; those who control or influencemanagement instruments relevant to theforest conservation; and those who possessimportant information or expertise andcapacities needed to address forest issuesand to develop management strategies and



action plans.

Further information:James Gichiah NjoguAGIDS, University of Amsterdam the NetherlandsP.O. Box 697 Ngong Hills KenyaE-mail: [email protected]

NOT BY MAIZE ALONE: FORESTACCESS AND RURAL LIVELIHOODSIN SOUTHWEST ETHIOPIA

By Yihenew Zewdie

Ethiopia's natural forests, located primarily inthe Southwest regions, are rapidly depleting.While the negative impact of deforestation onforest ecosystems is self-evident, the effecton forest-based livelihoods is poorlyunderstood. The drive for food security inEthiopia has focused mainly on enhancing theyield of food grains, such as maize, which areharvested from individually managed farmplots. Forest-based gathering operations,which are undertaken in common poolresource (CPR) systems, have received littlepolicy attention. Furthermore, the currentdebate on land tenure is polarised in terms ofprivate versus state ownership of agriculturalland, with little or no reference to the fate ofCPRs such as forests.

Forest-based livelihoods Forest resources in highland Kafa inSouthwest Ethiopia (Zewdie, 2002) supportmixed farming activities and provide a venuefor the practice of traditional spiritualceremonies. Above all, they enable villagersto meet household subsistence and cashincome needs. Wild food plants and plantmedicines are collected for subsistenceneeds, but are rarely marketed. Urban

demand spurred villagers' involvement in theproduction of wood and non-wood forestproducts (NWFPs) such as honey (fromhanging cylindrical log beehives on treebranches), coffee and spices. Although thelevel of NWFP income varies acrosshousehold groups, it averages at least a thirdof the annual household cash income ofcommunities in the case study areas.Nevertheless, this income may not besustainable, since timber production inparticular is sometimes excessive.

The contested terrain of forest accessSince 1975, all land resources have becomestate-owned. Within this framework, thecurrent land law recognises farmers' 'holdingrights' to farmland, but is silent regarding thenatural forest from which most of themarketable forest goods are produced. Thecountry's forest legislation, which classifiesnatural forests into 'state' and 'regional'forests, has a strong element of forestprotection without spelling out clearly villagers'forest use rights.

In practice, local departments of agriculture,which are entrusted with the responsibility ofadministering these resources, have neitherthe capacity nor the organisational incentive todo so. Traditional principles of forest accesssuch as prior occupancy and territoriality aretherefore invoked by farmers to establishlocally recognised claims on forest patches.These principles also apply to the Bonga stateforest, which was demarcated in the mid1980s in a rather top-down manner. Hence,from the perspective of farmers, the reality of'farmer holdings' includes both farmland andtree resources in natural forest areas. Thisperception is also reinforced by the fact thatthe level of NWFPs a household harvests isfactored into the determination of agriculturalincome taxes that farmers pay.

The advent of external forest stakeholdersThe limited capacity of local government tocarry out resource management has



necessitated the involvement of NGOs. Thus,in 1996 FARM Africa started implementingwhat became the Bonga Forest Conservationand Development Project within the Bongastate forest. The re-demarcation of the stateforest boundary was among the first activitiesthe project initiated. For farmers that regardednatural forests as their own use domain, suchan undertaking was unpopular. Moreover, thisapproach inadvertently helped to strengthenthe position of local administrators imbuedwith a top down 'fences and fines' approachtowards resource conservation.

In 1998, the threat that deforestation posed tothe plant genetic resources has prompted theEthiopian Agricultural Research Organisation(EARO) to demarcate a vast forest area inhighland Kafa as an in-situ coffeepreservation site. Indications are that this, too,alienated the forest holdings of local farmers.

The budding private sector is also fastbecoming a source of threat to forest-basedlivelihoods in highland Kafa and beyond.Since the official holding right of farmers isconfined to farmland areas, local authoritieshave been eager to attract private agriculturalinvestment to areas of natural forest in theirjurisdiction.

The imposition of outside realities on the localforest tenure scene has consequentlyresulted in ambiguities and uncertainties.These can only encourage short-termism inthe use of forest resources, rather thansustainable management.

The way forwardUncertainties in forest tenure have frustratedthe potential forest management partnershipthat could have been forged between forestvillagers, external forest stakeholders andlocal departments of agriculture. It is,therefore, essential that policy makersformally recognise the forest use rights ofrural households in a manner analogous tothe recognition accorded to farmland. Policy

consideration should also be given to the roleforest agriculture could play in sub-regionallevel food security endeavours. Thesemeasures will put an end to the governmentalpractice of viewing forest-based agriculturemerely as source of tax revenue, and will betaken as an endorsement of the importance offorest agriculture as a way of life. These arealso likely to encourage the development ofvillage level institutional norms that wouldchallenge destructive forest uses.

However, 'rights' for forest use advocatedabove have to be accompanied bycorresponding farmer 'obligations' as regardsforest conservation. Environmental NGOscould play a vital advocacy role inchampioning the legal recognition of forestuse rights as well as organising communitiesto rise to the task of sustainable forestmanagement. This entails a re-orientation ofthe existing partnership between localdepartments of agriculture and current andpotential NGOs involved in the forestry sector.

As regards the designation of state forests orprotected areas, a purpose-specific approach,like the one EARO spearheaded, could beemployed, rather than the existing practice ofterritoriality, i.e. demarcation of contiguousforest areas. At any rate, external foreststakeholders that are keen on establishingsuch schemes have to appreciate the need fornegotiating the outcomes with forest villagersand should be prepared to compensate forlost livelihoods from their activities.

Reference:Yihenew Zewdie (2002). Access to forestresources and forest-based livelihoods inhighland Kafa, Ethiopia: A resourcemanagement perspective. PhD Thesis,University of Huddersfield, UK.

Further information:Yihenew ZewdieP.O.Box 21220 Addis Ababa



EthiopiaE-mail: [email protected]

GLOBAL FOREST MANAGEMENTDECISIONS AND THE LOCAL USE OFFOREST RESOURCES IN KENYA:EXPLORING THE LINK

By Wario R. Adano and Karen Witsenburg

Over 20 institutions and departments inKenya are concerned with environmentalissues and over 50 non-governmentalorganisations (NGOs) were engaged inenvironmental activities in Kenya by 1999.The importance of NGOs in environmentalactivities has grown over the past few years.Their forest conservation efforts and those oflocal communities are hindered rather thansupported by the Kenyan government, whichhas control over forest resources and legalexcisions of protected forest areas. Forestexcision or the removal of Kenyan forestsfrom environmental protection, has a powerfuleffect on local and international forestconservation efforts, making supportive lawunrealistic. The recently planned excision ofover 680 km2 (about 10%) of the country'sforest cover was not in the general interest.This decision contravenes the government'scommitment to safeguard the environmentand has serious consequences for theavailability of forest products, the protection ofvital water catchment areas and biodiversityc o n s e r v a t i o n . N o n - g o v e r n m e n t a lorganisations (NGOs) have started lobbyingagainst such a move.

Forest conservation in Kenya is alsochallenged by widespread poverty and pooreconomic performance. A specific aspect ofthis is the use of wood fuel. Over 80% of theKenya's population depends on wood fuel(firewood and/or charcoal) for their domesticenergy needs and most of it comes from

forests, woodlands and shrub lands.Government policies do not, however,recognise the problem of wood fuel as acause of deforestation and the link betweendeforestation and the demand for woodproducts is poorly understood (Mbugua,2000). One of the questions addressed in ourstudy therefore refers to the effects on localcommunities of national and internationalorganisations' forestry interventions andconservation initiatives.

'Global' financing of forestry conservationand local level benefits We conducted research in a small forest(about 152 km2) in northern Kenya whichserves as a water catchment and which ishome to 350 elephants, buffaloes and manybird species. This forest supports arablefarming by over 37 000 people, involving anestimated 80 000 head of livestock.Population growth and the economic situationare the main determinants of demand forforest products like firewood and charcoal,increasing pressure on the forest.

Forest products contribute significantly to localproduction and income, especially for therelatively poor. The forest products alsodiversify the livelihoods of people living inclose proximity to forested areas, contributing25% of the rural households' income in anaverage year. During extended periods ofdrought, the sale of forest products becomesmore important when other sources of incomefall short. Population growth and the reducedavailability of forest products means extralabour time for collection is required, with theburden of harvesting falling on women andgirls. The selective harvest of indigenous treespecies of high market value and removal ofthe vegetation cover at 1.5% annually hasalso been noted (GTZ/MDP, 1997). Yet thecentrally determined permit fee system atnational level and forest policing to regulateresource use are far removed from theeconomic circumstances that rural householdsface with regard to the forest products they



need.

Planting trees and promoting energy-savingdevices are approaches commonly used toreduce local demand for forest resources.However, forestry projects take several yearsto yield returns on investment. Moreover, it isno straightforward matter to evaluate effortsof local NGOs at community level inmeasurable terms beyond the term of theproject. However, one goal of a local NGOintervention was to install energy-savingdevices (Bellerive stoves) in order toconserve the forest by encouraging reducedconsumption of trees for firewood and torelieve pressure on the forest for fuel wood.The project helped to install energy-efficientstoves in schools, hotels (the mainconsumers of wood fuel) and households.The natural resource component ofconservation of fuel wood accounted to only6.3% of the total project cost. The comparisonof fuelwood consumption before and after theinstallation of energy-saving stoves reducedthe amount of fuel energy consumed by 64%,on average, and costs of firewood collectionby about 63% by schools. The stovesachieved an overall 10% saving in wood fuelconsumption by hotels. The stoves also cuthousehold expenditures on firewood by 40%,and reduced fuel wood consumption andsaved energy collection efforts by about 50%in the community. It is clear from the evidencethat the energy-saving devices score highly interms of reducing costs and creating savingson fuel consumption and collection time .

ConclusionForest conservation efforts in Kenya face anumber of challenges, such as the threat ofgovernment initiatives designed to convertforests to other land uses and the lack ofpolitical will to implement the policies andexisting regulatory measures. Thegovernment does not recognise customaryrights in forest management.

Local NGOs face the difficulty of creating new

institutions that are sustainable beyond theterm of the project. They lack the legal basison which to base their concern, whichindicates a lack of a connection betweennational forestry policy and local initiatives.Despite the criticisms levelled againstglobalisation, increasing inequality andexploitation of workers, the results of our studyshow increasing integration of the localeconomies into international markets and localpartnerships in forest conservation that bringbenefits to the rural poor, especially womenwho are the main actors in forest productexploitation. Currently, while working withinthe confinement of existing forestry laws, thereis need to work towards effective forest andwoodland management solutions, particularlyas regards long-term policy.

There is no evidence of communityinvolvement in the decision-making process offorestry conservation. The lack of involvementof forest-adjacent population groups and otherstakeholders in conservation decisionsremains the main challenge facing the forestconservation movement in Kenya. Thedecentralisation of certain forest decisions andthe empowerment of local communities needto be matched with demand for forestresources. Another concern pertains to theinfluence of wealth differences on forest use.Without a special focus, the very poor arelikely to be excluded.

Further information:Wario R. Adano and Karen WitsenburgAmsterdam Research Institute for GlobalIssues and Development (AGIDS),University of AmsterdamNieuwe Prinsengracht 130 1018 VZ Amsterdam The NetherlandsE-mail: [email protected];[email protected]



LOCAL PEOPLE AND LOCALB E N E F I T S I N I N T E G R A T E DBIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION: ACASE STUDY FROM RANOMAFANANATIONAL PARK, MADAGASCAR

By Maija Kaisa Korhonen

The basic idea behind integratedconservation and development projects is tointegrate development (usually bycompensation) and conservation, with a viewto reconciling nature conservation and localpeople's livelihood needs. Our study presentsthe case of Ranomafana National Park (RNP)which was established as an integratedconservation and development project. Theaim of our study is to clarify the concept of'local people' in a conservation context andhow they are affected by, or benefit from,integrated conservation and developmentprojects.

Local people have been the target ofconservation and development activities, buteach actor (local authorities, local elite, NGOsand various farmers groups) perceive thebenefits and justifications of the project intheir own way. All actors defend their owninterests and control over natural resources.The aim of this study is to show how thesedifferent actors and the social relations andunequal distribution of power between themhave shaped the way the 'forest' and 'localpeople' in Ranomafana are conceptuallyconstructed.

Those who can apply for compensation withinICDPs, but also face restrictions in theiridentity and livelihoods as a result ofconservation efforts should be considered as'local people', 'target group' or 'beneficiaries'.These 'local people' differ, however, withrespect to ethnicity, gender, place of living,wealth, social position and the social pressurethey face in relation to natural resource use.

Preliminary outcomes show that in the nameof biodiversity conservation, various segmentsof the local population lost their right to useforest resources, hence their source oflivelihood. Many adverse effects weregenerated as a result of unequal powerrelations, weak institutions to control theconservation and development activities anda lack of commitment to the idea thatconservation objectives should be reconciledwith the rights of local communities to adecent livelihood.

Further information:Kaisa KorhonenDepartment of Social Policy/ DevelopmentStudiesP.O.Box 18FIN-00014 University of HelsinkiFinlandE-mail: [email protected]

ASSESSING MAMMAL STATUS INTROPICAL RAIN FORESTS USINGLOCAL KNOWLEDGE

By Christiaan A. van der Hoeven

International donor organisations and majornature conservation organisations recognisethat the rapidly worsening bushmeat crisis inCentral Africa is turning from a biodiversityconservation problem into a livelihood andfood security problem for the humanpopulation. Since it is the major protein sourceof the local populations, bushmeat is beingexploited at unsustainable levels and thisposes a threat to future food supplies. Otherprotein sources are too scarce or expensive tobe considered as alternatives. Only NGOs orgovernmental organisations have the funds,and can apply these, to initiate and developalternative protein production projects.However, production is no way near enough tobe relevant as a major protein source.



Project aimEfforts should be directed at regulatingcurrent bushmeat exploitation and making itsustainable, without jeopardising the regularprotein supply for the population. Thisrequires understanding of the actual status ofwildlife in the forest and how this can or willchange under different managementstrategies. The goal of our study is to providebiodiversity conservation and managementprojects with a cheap, time-effective andeasily applicable tool to assess mammalstatus. Based on local knowledge, the method(called Pooled Local Expert Opinion or PLEO)is designed in such a way that local wildlifespecialists can easily adopt it, therebyassuring local ownership of the results. Thiscontrasts with present wildlife densityassessments which are mostly carried out bywestern scientists, involve complex methodsthat are difficult to learn, are costly andinvolve the deployment of a team ofobservers and assistants over a longer periodof time. The new methodology providessimilar results as current methods, whichmakes it promising for use in sustainablewildlife use programmes.

Project set-up The methodology is based on the fact thathunters are local experts with extensiveknowledge of the wildlife status in their area.By asking the hunter to estimate animalabundance in a specified area, researcherscan calculate the animal density with the helpof GIS and maps. If enough hunters areinterviewed, a good overall image of thewildlife status can be obtained. This methodcan be applied by people with basic training inbiology and statistics. We tested this methodin the Campo-Ma'an area in SouthCameroon, where the GEF Campo-Ma'anBiodiversity Conservation and ManagementProject needed information on the wildlifestatus in order to develop a management planfor its multiple-use zone. The method wastested simultaneously with line transectsurveys, which represent the currently

accepted methodology for wildlife densityestimation. In addition, a risk analysis wasperformed on the species that were commonlyhunted in order to rank the species accordingto sensitivity to over-hunting. Finally, a marketsurvey was carried out to provide data onbushmeat availability and to test whether thissurvey could function as an early warningsignal for the monitoring of frequently huntedspecies.

ResultsThe results of the wildlife density assessmentfor 33 species were compared with dataobtained by different methods in the samearea in the same period and were alsocompared with densities found in literature.The results were similar, further supporting theidea of implementing this method more widely.What also emerged from this study is thatseveral species are threatened with localextinction. This is because they cannotmaintain a healthy population since the areawhere they are protected is too small and notconnected to other areas rich in biodiversity,thereby preventing exchange andreplenishment. This implies a need forcorridors , if the project management wishesto conserve current species richness.

Implications and further studyThe results of this study indicate thatadequate biodiversity protection requiresspecific criteria to be applied in the design ofprotected rain forest areas. These criteriarefer to the size, location and form of theprotection area. Little is known about thesecriteria as yet, so we will initiate a study on thecriteria currently used for the selection anddevelopment of protected areas. The resultsof that study will be integrated with those ofthe wildlife assessment and will be used toissue advice on Protected Area Design andManagement in West and Central Africa.

Further information:Christiaan van der HoevenTropical Nature Conservation and Vertebrate



Ecology, WURBornsesteeg 69 6708 PD WageningenThe NetherlandsE-mail: [email protected] [email protected]

BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATIONTHROUGH BURNING: A CASE STUDYOF WOODLANDS IN THE BUDONGOFOREST RESERVE, NW UGANDA

By Grace Nangendo, Oliver van Straaten andAlfred de Gier

In order to determine suitable areas forconservation, it is important that the spatialdynamics and the forces fostering thatdynamic change be understood. TheBudongo Forest Reserve, located innorth-western Uganda, is one of the foreststhat have been identified as having a highbiodiversity. The forest is composed of 53.7%tropical high forest and 46.3% woodlands.The Budongo Forest has been under centralgovernment management (specifically of theForest Department) since 1948. In the mid1980s, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA)joined forces with regard to management ofthe forest. At the same time, the local peoplehave maintained the woodlands within theforest area for hundreds of years.

In the woodlands (here defined as formationswith a discontinuous tree layer but with acoverage of at least 10% and less than 40%,and generally with a continuous grass layer)local stakeholders used fire as a tool forhunting and for maintaining an openenvironment suitable for animal grazing.Many such ecosystems that experience firedisturbances over long periods consequentlydevelop a unique species pool adapted to fire.However, in the absence of suchdisturbances, various ecological changes

occur within such ecosystems.

The woodlands within Budongo ForestReserve were selected for a case study todetermine spatial changes in the absence offire. The spatial extent of vegetation changeswere mapped using satellite imagery over a17-year period from 1985 to 2002. TemporalNDVI image differencing and visualinterpretation techniques were used todetermine areas of vegetation change. The2002 satellite image of the area was classifiedso as to generate a map of the existing covertypes. In this paper, the output of theabove-mentioned study is linked to an earlierstudy of the mechanisms used by local peoplewho used fire for hunting purposes so as tounderstand the role of local people inmaintaining the heterogeneous landscape.

Vegetation change following firepreventionDue to increased fire prevention measuresimposed throughout the past two decades,there has been a net increase in vegetationcover, with the surrounding forest encroachinginto the woodland. The classified image showsvarious cover types . The recently burnt areas,however, show an interesting phenomenon:along the northern side of the forest, an areacontrolled by UWA management alone, therecently burnt parts are generally large, whilethose along the southern side, near the localpeople, being small and far apart. In betweenthese two parts there is no indication ofrecently burnt areas. In an earlier study, it wasobserved that local people's fires aresystematically set and controlled. They arealso spatially varied over time. It can thereforebe deduced that if the current fire controlmeasures are maintained, there will behomogeneous woodland in the North andheterogeneous woodland in the south, with thecentral area being left to grow into forestunchecked. Heterogeneous woodland wouldbe more advantageous since it is likely tohave more species than a homogeneous one,which - if added to the already existing forest



- would lead to an increase in the biodiversitylevel of the forest reserve.

The vegetation changes in the area canmainly be explained by two major events thattook place in the mid 1980s, i.e. themovement of the UWA gate from theNorthern boundary of the forest to thesouthern boundary and the establishment ofan ecotourism site by the ForestryDepartment along the only access roadthrough the forest. The gate has created acheckpoint for all who enter the forest area. Atthe same time, the local people also avoidmaking fires anywhere close to theecotourism site. Because of the dualmanagement of the forest area, there is noclear understanding of the policies that play arole. While the UWA authority utilises earlyburning as a way of establishing fresh grassfor the animals, the Forestry Departmentrecommends the same in the woodlandareas. The foresters on the ground, however,hardly ever carry out the burning work andrely on the now 'illegal' local people to do theburning instead. However, the current heavypolicing of the area by the UWA means localpeople are unable to access the protectedarea.

The need for balanced fire managementTo encourage the local people to stay awayfrom the protected area, revenue-sharingprogrammes and income-generating projectshave been set up. The children in thesurrounding schools are also being taughtabout the value of conservation. While thismay succeed, one problem still remains: bywhom and when are the fires in thewoodlands to be set? Is the managementwilling to learn from the local people who havemaintained the woodland set up of this areafor hundreds of years? Are we, foresters,willing to come down and admit especially tothe local people, that fire is not always an evilto be avoided and that it is beneficial tocertain ecosystems such as woodlands?

For the purpose of maintaining a dynamiclandscape, where both the forest and thewoodland communities co-exist in the future,it is important that fire disturbance regimes bemanaged consciously. Sustainable woodlandmanagement would require a balancebetween fire restriction and fire establishmentto control and shift the ecosystem to suitfuture management objectives.

Further information:Grace NangendoDepartment of Natural Resources,International Institute for Geo-InformationScience & Earth Observation (ITC) PO Box 6Hengelosestraat 997500 AA EnschedeThe NetherlandsE-mail: [email protected]

IS SUSTAINABLE MANGROVEMANAGEMENT POSSIBLE IN THE REDRIVER DELTA OF VIETNAM?

By Le Thi Van Hue

Although community-based natural resourcemanagement attracts international attention, ithas not yet been widely implemented inVietnam. In Vietnam the main strategies havebeen centralised management by stateagencies and the assignment of managementresponsibility to individual households. Weargue that the promotion of nationalisation andprivatisation has not solved the problem ofresource degradation and overexploitation, buthas deprived many rural households of theirlivelihoods. We base this argument on a studyof mangrove forest use and management in avillage of Vietnam's Red River Delta, whichshows that the local community is highlyheterogeneous. We suggest that sustainable



mangrove management requires acombination of institutional arrangements,including state control, private resource rightsand community-based management.

Study areaGiao Lac village is a largely Catholic coastalcommunity located in Giao Thuy district, NamDinh province, which lies at the mouth of theRed River. The village is home to anagricultural community who farm rice, but whoare also engaged in animal husbandry andfisheries. It is bordered to the south by thecentral dike, an inter-tidal area and the SouthChina Sea. The inter-tidal area occupies morethan 600 ha, 400 hectares of which havebeen planted with mangroves. There are 5shrimp ponds in this area.

Giao Lac's first cooperative was formed in1959. During this time, the village managedthe forests on behalf of the district. Thevillagers were not allowed to go to the forestsas they had done before. The People'sCommittee put guards along the dike toprotect the forests. Part of their job was tostop those who entered the mangrovesillegally and even confiscate firewood. Thus,everyone tried his or her best to poach theforests. They even felled big mangrove treesfor firewood, a situation that had neveroccurred before.

Impacts of economic reform During the 1980s, a household-basedeconomy increasingly displaced thecooperative-based economy. During the DoiMoi period, China became the biggestimporter of Vietnam's marine products. Inresponse to this, the mangroves weredestroyed and shrimp ponds wereconstructed. Households bid publicly for alease to manage a shrimp pond. Although thebidding process is open to everybody, onlythe rich with sufficient capital, labour,management skills and political power areable to participate in the process.

Since 1990, clams have become a valuablecommodity, about 5 times more valuable thanin the past. Those who had connections withChinese traders who sold clams to the bivalvemarkets in China began farming clams byputting in place a system of nets on theinter-tidal area. Many people have becomerich very quickly from farming clams andtrading in marine produce. This process ofclaiming land excluded the poor andfemale-headed households. These people didnot have any place to go and dig clams.Consequently, a number of people, especiallypoor women and girls, became marginalised.

Danish Red Cross mangrove plantationprojectIn 1997, the Danish Red Cross assisted GiaoLac to plant 400 ha of mangroves for theprotection of sea dikes and other assets ofcoastal dwellers. The project was designed toselect poor households with sufficient labourto plant mangroves. In reality, very few poorhouseholds were actually selected toparticipate. The majority were middle-class orupper-middle-class households, who were thehamlet heads' relatives and friends.

In 1999, when the mangroves were two yearsold, the village guards who are paid more thanUS$ 25/month decided to sell tickets to localpeople who wanted to collect marine creaturesin the mangroves. The guards kept the moneyfor themselves. This created resentmentbetween people in the village and the guards,as the enclosure of the protected mangroveforests had transferred control over theresources to the guards. The result was highlyinequitable, as the poor could not afford to buythe ticket to enter the mangrove forests to lookfor marine creatures.

The mangroves are presently six years oldand the Danish Red Cross project is going tofinish in 2005. However, no one knows who isgoing to manage the forests when the projectends. According to the village officials, themangrove forests will be under the district's



management, a system of management thatdisenfranchises Giao Lac's poor inhabitants.Many are afraid that the district will privatisethe forests by granting concession toindividuals who have capital sources to investin shrimp ponds, to convert the forests intoshrimp farming industry areas. Nobody wantsto lose the forests again.

ConclusionThe Doi Moi economic reforms, while openingup economic opportunities for many, have notbenefited the whole community. Rapidchanges in the allocation of privateleaseholds in the coastal area and thelegalisation of private businesses havedeprived many poor households of livelihoodsdependent on open access tocommunally-held mangrove resources.Female-headed households, women and girlshave been the most adversely-affected.

Since the local community itself is highlyheterogeneous and outsiders also use theresources, it does not make sense to proposeon ly ' commun i ty-based resourcemanagement'. A combination of nationalcon t ro l , p r i va te ownersh ip andcommunity-based management thereforeappears to be the most suitable strategy topromote in the case of Giao Lac.

A Central Government agency would continueto manage the dike system, as a breach inthe dike system can cause far-reachingdamage to many communities. Householdswould manage individual shrimp pondsaccording to private sector principles, sincethe proceeds from the bidding process can bespent on the village's infrastructure. Thewhole community would oversee themanagement of the mangrove forests and begranted the right to require shrimp pondfarmers to post 'environmental bonds' orotherwise pay money into a local fund thatwould be used to offset loss of income toother villagers as a result of mangrove habitatdestruction.

Further information:Le Thi Van HueInstitute of Social StudiesP.O. Box 297762502 LT The Hague The NetherlandsE-mail: [email protected]

VII GLOBAL-LOCAL PARTNERSHIPSF O R C O N S E R V A T I O N A N DSUSTAINABLE FOREST USE: ALATIN-AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE

As discussed in the previous part on thebasis of examples from Africa and Asia,new multi-scale and multi-stakeholderpartnerships in forest management havethe potential to link global conservationobjectives with local needs. This sectionprovides examples from Latin America,where multi-scale and multi-sectorpartnerships in forest managementabound. The main question that runsthrough the articles as a common threadis what opportunities and obstacles suchpartnerships offer for democraticgovernance of forest resources andparticipatory forest management in LatinAmerica, and what is needed to removeobstacles and fully realise the potential.

S Nicaragua: the rescaling of indigenousforestry (Mary Brook)

S Partnerships, paper production andpower: coalition-building to opposeunequal land-use opportunities insouthern Costa Rica (Heleen van denHombergh)

S Volcan Arenal National Park and thecommunity of El Castillo: the need forimproving the links between parks andpeople in Costa Rica (Juan AntonioAguirre González)



S Partnerships and sustainable forestmanagement: towards sustainingmahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) in theMaya forest of Mexico and Belize (LauraK. Snook)

S Partnerships for sustainable forestmanagement: lessons from Esmeraldasprovince in Ecuador (Nathalie Walker andLaura Rival)

S Partnerships across scales: lessons fromextractive reserves in Brazilian Amazonia(Sergio Rosendo)

S Negotiating solutions for local sustainabledevelopment and the prevention ofdeforestation in the Brazilian Amazon(Imme Scholz)

S Globalisation and the environment: theeffects of the financial crisis on tropicalforest management in BrazilianAmazonia (Sjur Kasa and Lars OttoNæss)

S The Guiana Shield initiative as amulti-level strategy for sustainable forestmanagement (Pitou van Dijck)

NICARAGUA: THE RESCALING OFINDIGENOUS FORESTRY

By Mary M. Brook

An analysis of the implementation of twomulti-sector, multi-scale Nicaraguan forestryprojects shows that balancing diverse needsis a challenging process. A degree ofsensitivity to local leadership, history andculture is essential, but may be difficult toarticulate into broad networks. These findingsare based on two years of fieldwork in theNorthern Autonomous Region in themunicipality of Prinzapolka, which waschosen for its predominantly indigenouspopulation, high rates of logging and recententrance of international developmentinstitutions. Autonomous Region processesindicate a contested but slowly advancing

decentralisation of power from a formerlycentralised state. In Prinzapolka, indigenousleaders such as village síndicos and eldercouncils play important roles in resourcedecision-making.

Historical constraintsOver the past century, foreign enterprisesextracted select species from Prinzapolkasuch as big-leaf mahogany and Caribbeanpine. Logging followed boom and bust cyclesas companies left once accessible trees wereharvested. Villagers had little control overcommon-property forests and were treatedmerely as a labour force. Even after therecognition of ethnic and communal rights inEastern Nicaragua by the 1987 AutonomyStatute, local populations continued to beeconomically marginalised. The latestPrinzapolka mahogany boom lasted from1993 to 2001. Villagers benefited little:Prinzapolka was identified as the Nicaraguanmunicipality with the highest rates of poverty in2002. Local loggers, struggling to continuepost-boom mahogany sales, entered intodelinquency after the government passedlegislation to protect the remaining mahoganyand improve production methods. A lack ofcapital investment meant that the forests wereused inefficiently. For example, mahoganyplanks were cut using chainsaws. This illegalpractice wasted more than 30% of thepotential timber, but it was the only opportunityat the village level to add value by processing.

Emerging opportunities In 2002, the Meadow Lakes Tribal Council(MLTC) in Saskatchewan, Canada, initiatedan indigenous-to-indigenous partnership in thePrinzapolka-Bambana area of EasternNicaragua. A central goal is for the sixteenNicaraguan member communities to achieveeconomic parity with the national populationwithin twenty years. The project will train localpopulations in sustainable logging as well asinitiate ecotourism as an incentive to conserveforests, lakes, and wetlands.



MLTC includes nine independent Cree andDene communities. This council uses pooledresources to function at a scale beyond thereach of any one community. MLTC hasbecome a model for Canadian First Nationsbecause of its ability to generate wealth fromthe logging, mining and service sectors.M L T C m e m b e r s e s t a b l i s h e d anon-governmental organisation (NGO) calledContigo International in 1997 to share whatthey have learned with other indigenouscultures. Contigo is guiding the creation of aNicaraguan development corporation, calledLimi Nawâh, which is run by a locally elected,multi-village council.

A second organisation, the Network for ForestResource Management and Protection in theMining Triangle and Prinzapolka(REPROMAB), works with indigenouscommunities, companies, governmentofficials, NGOs, universities and forestprofessionals. For two years, REPROMABhas encouraged participants to work in ahorizontal cooperation structure to achieveobjectives that would be unobtainable if theyworked in isolation. REPROMAB defines fourmunicipalities as one forest managementblock. Organizers promote multi-sectorpartnerships for the management of long-termtimber concessions as well as regenerationand conservation areas. REPROMABsupports regional wood-processing initiativesto increase local benefit from logging.

Continuing challenges The greatest challenge for REPROMAB maybe the lack of trust between state, private,and indigenous sectors. While the networkarticulates national, regional and municipalgovernance and creates linkages with thenational private sector, these relationshipsalienate the indigenous population. Contigosidesteps this problem with Limi Nawâh, anindigenous-run corporation. The employmentopportunities mean that local communitiesfondly recall historical foreign resourceventures (timber, minerals, beef, rubber and

bananas). They are open to internationalalliances, yet resist arrangements with thestate and businesses from Nicaragua's west.An east/west split originated prior to the birthof the Nicaraguan nation. Distrust increasedduring the Contra War in the 1980s.

While REPROMAB has brought diverse actorsfrom the logging sector together to engage indialogue, it does not yet have the necessarypolitical or economic clout to attain forestmanagement goals. There is internationalsupport for capacity building, but networkdevelopment and administration are managedwithin the Autonomous Region. REPROMABhas found balancing diverse needs to bechallenging because each participating sectoradvocates their own needs: the desire forsustainable forest management does notunify. REPROMAB resists promising materialgain as a motivation for participation, whereasfunding boosts Contigo's acceptance. Contigoinvolves the same sectors as REPROMAB(indigenous, state, private, NGO) and theyboth work for common goals: • to develop a profitable corporation; and • to assist indigenous villages. Contigo has an extensive budget andinternational offices to deal with administrationand funding matters.

REPROMAB invites each village síndico(overseer of common-property resources) tomulti-sector meetings. Because, due to recentcorruption, they no longer trust one individualto represent communal interests, manyvillages send multiple representatives. Withmore than forty member villages, hosts canbecome overextended. Working on a largescale with few resources, REPROMAB risksdisregarding members' priorities. Moreover,addressing the needs of indigenous andnon-indigenous sectors requires sacrifices tobe made. The network limits languagetranslations at meetings because indigenousparticipants are only from one sector andthere are time constraints. AlthoughREPROMAB's president is indigenous, the



lack of translations is considereddisrespectful. Since Limi Nawâh works only inindigenous communities, meetings are held inMiskitu. Contigo representatives initially heldtraditional public assemblies in each village.Now six elected representatives from eachvillage attend multi-village meetings.

Limi Nawâh is smaller in scale thanREPROMAB because it works with justsixteen villages, but it is also larger becauseof strong international networks. While widelysupported in the indigenous villages, LimiNawâh risks creating a new enclave economywhere national, regional and municipallinkages remain weak and resources jumpback and forth between local and internationalscales. Time will tell if these two projects canarticulate and balance multiple sectors andscales.

Further information:Mary M. BrookDepartment of Geography, University ofTexas at Austin210 West 24th Street, Austin, TX 78712-1098USAE-mail: [email protected]

PARTNERSHIPS, PAPERPRODUCTION AND POWER:COALITION-BUILDING TO OPPOSEUNEQUAL LAND-USEOPPORTUNITIES IN SOUTHERNCOSTA RICA

By Heleen van den Hombergh

In recent decades the paper industry hasbeen extending its influence further aroundthe globe than ever before: not only to findexploitable natural forests, but increasingly touse agricultural or forest lands to producefast-growing pulpwood species for their mills.

Cheap land and labour and favourable climaticconditions for fast-growing pulpwood speciesmake paper companies sign agreements withSouthern governments to 'reforest' the rurallandscape. One such country is Costa Ricawhich is well-known for its protected areas, butwhich is also plagued by deforestation and isfacing a crisis in remote rural areas becauseof opening markets and declining statesupport for farmers. The Southern area is onesuch remote area in need of employment andagricultural alternatives.

The case of Stone Container CorporationStone Container Corporation (now part ofSmurfit Stone) was one of the largest paperproducers in the world and is in constant needof raw material. It started operations in thiszone with a view to sowing 24 000 hectares ofGmelina arborea. The company acquiredextensive land resources for very low prices,while the conditions for the farmers 'leasingout' their land were quite unfavourable. Notonly did the agreements affect the owners ofthe land, they also had an impact on theirneighbours: the project (further) catalysed arural exodus. Furthermore, Stone Containerwanted to install a pulpwood-processing plantwhich was expected to affect forest andmarine biodiversity - important assets fortourism in the area. To stop this and demandbetter conditions for the 'partnership' that thepaper giant and Costa Rican government haddesigned, farmers, tourism entrepreneurs,environmental organisations, lawyers andpoliticians joined forces to negotiate a betternation-wide agreement with the company.They were successful in this to a certainextent. The slogan 're(af)forestation' proved,however, to have considerable political clout -who, after all, can be against it? The studyreveals the dynamics of the political processinvolved, focusing on the issue of strategicframing or 'selling the green message' by boththe company and its opponents.

Further information:Heleen van den Hombergh



U n i v e r s i t y o f A m s t e r d a m / N o v i b(Oxfam-Netherlands)P.O. Box 309192500 GX The HagueThe NetherlandsE-mail: [email protected]

VOLCAN ARENAL NATIONAL PARKAND THE COMMUNITY OF ELCASTILLO: THE NEED FORIMPROVING THE LINKS BETWEENPARKS AND PEOPLE IN COSTA RICA

By Juan Antonio Aguirre González

Costa Rica has, at present, 155 protectedareas in seven management categories whichtogether cover 1.288.565 ha or 25.2% of thecountry. Thirty-two of these operate within theNational System of Conservation Areas(SINAC). Here, many communities depend onvarious forms of nature-based tourism fortheir livelihood. A five-year research effortaims to study the state of relations betweenpark managers and local communities, with aview to finding out how multi-stakeholderpartnerships work out in practice. The projectis now in its third year and has thus farcovered 23 communities in about ten NationalParks. It shows that the partnerships have sofar benefited little from globalisation orlocalisation .

Volcan Arenal National ParkOne of the cases studied refers to one ofCosta Rica best-known parks, the VolcanArenal National Park and the community of ElCastillo - a small community of around 36households nestled inside the park. This caseprovides an example of how interests ofdifferent stakeholders may conflict, thuscomplicating the formation of partnershipsaimed at the conservation of the park and theimprovement of people's livelihoods. The

complication arose because the parkadministration has to deal simultaneously witha variety of stakeholders, such asneighbouring communities, merchants, hoteland restaurant owners, farmers, touroperators, independent tour guides,bureaucrats from the Ministry of theEnvironment, illegal hunters, localtransportation companies, taxi drivers andlocal and national politicians - all of which wantto share in the tourist expenditures in one formor another. When one has so many intereststo reconcile in order to work on conservationmatters, conservation becomes a majorchallenge.

The need for decentralisation andinternational donor support Although the park was created in 1992, acoherent set of conservation practices is stilllacking due to conflicts between parkmanagers and stakeholders. The problem isdifficult to deal with because park managershave to follow central policies and directivesthat in many cases reveal little understandingof local conditions. The absence of local policyinitiatives and decentralised decisions makesit difficult for local people to understand thebehaviour and decisions of park managers,resulting in a generalised feeling that parkmanagers have no understanding and/or donot care about community problems. A majorproblem is the government's inability to pay forthe land confiscated to create the park. As aresult, people are unable to move out of thepark, while at the same time being restrictedto develop their land freely because of outsideenvironmental pressure. Government officialsfrom the Ministry of Energy and theEnvironment complain about the indifferenceof the international community when they askfor monetary aid to solve these problems.Such requests are often refused, with theargument being that Costa Rica is a relativelydeveloped country vis-à-vis other third worldcountries.

People's perceptions



The results of interviews with 33% of thehouseholds in El Castillo indicate that theaverage monthly income per householdamounted to 125 thousands colones (approx.US$ 330) and that 83% of the work is relatedto tourism. One third of the interviewees feltthat their circumstances have improved sincethe creation of the park; 59% of thehouseholds are making more money nowthan before the park was created (albeit onlyduring the tourist season). One third of thepeople have lost their land and have beencompensated fairly and promptly. Twenty-fivepercent of the respondents were positiveabout the park because it generated jobs and33% because they considered tourism to bethe best land-use option. These figuresindicate that the majority were less positiveabout the creation of the park. Roads andtransportation were regarded as thecommunity's main problems by 75% of thepeople interviewed. One third felt that thecreation of the park put restrictions todevelopment. Fifty percent of the peopleexpect little improvement because mostmoney generated by the park goes to thecentral government.

InvolvementPeople's involvement with the park ismoderate. Although 75% of the respondentsconsidered the park to be part of thecommunity because they are neighbours,67% stated they were not involved in the parkand 17% said they were involved or visitedthe park only because they live inside thepark. As much as 92% of the intervieweessaid they did not participate in park decisions.Eighty four percent regarded the relationshipbetween park and community as poor andalmost half of the interviewees expressed thewish for a change in attitude and moreinteraction between the park managers andadministrators and the community.

Lessons learntThe study of the relations between themanagement of Volcan Arenal Park and the

community of El Castillo showed that:• The park system's inability to confiscate

and pay for the land and the housing hasbeen a permanent source of irritationbetween the park's management and thecommunity.

• The fact that the local people live fromtourism has softened the impact of theproblems associated with the creation ofthe park.

• The park management is incapable ofaddressing the community's needsbecause the central government takes allthe entrance fees.

• The park is considered to be part of thecommunity, but the community is notparticipating in park decisions.

• Most interviewees want a change inattitude as reflected by increasedparticipation by the community and morecooperation between communitymembers and the park managers.

It is understood that making people, parkmanagers and administrators work together isnot easy since a lot of actors are involved andthere are a great many conflicting interests. Inthe end, co-management may fail. It is not fair,however, to suffocate communities byinflexibility and a lack of participation in theevent of uni lateral pol ic ies anddecision-making and the incapability ofgovernments to properly confiscate and payfor the land, as is the case in Costa Rica.

Further information:Dr Juan Antonio Aguirre G.The School for Field Studies, Centre forSustainable DevelopmentApartado 150-4013Atenas, Alajuela,Costa RicaE-mail: [email protected]



PARTNERSHIPS AND SUSTAINABLEFOREST MANAGEMENT: TOWARDSS U S T A I N I N G M A H O G A N Y(SWIETENIA MACROPHYLLA) IN THEMAYA FOREST OF MEXICO ANDBELIZE

By Laura K. Snook

Approximately 500.000 ha of the Maya forestin southern Mexico are owned by more than40 communities that obtain subsistence cropsfrom shifting agriculture and income fromtimber and non-timber forest products. Since1984, partnerships between Europeanbilateral aid organisations, Americanfoundations and NGOs, and localorganisations have helped these communitiesand the foresters who work with them makesignificant progress towards sustainableforest management. Across the border, aBelizean NGO that has received support fromconservation NGOs in the US as well as theEU, has come to own and manage over100.000 ha of forest for the joint objectives ofbiodiversity conservation and thedemonstration of sustainable developmentoptions. Through an ongoing, 7-yearcollaborative relationship with researchers,these two different kinds of forest owners inMexico and Belize have become leaders indemonstrating that the highly valuedmahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) can beboth harvested and sustained in naturalforests.

Flagship speciesMahogany has become the flagship timberspecies in debates about the feasibility ofsustainable tropical forest management. It isstill obtained from natural forests becausedecades of attempts to grow mahogany inmonospecific plantations have been deemedunsuccessful due to attacks by an insect pest.However, selective logging of mahogany from

natural forests undermines the capacity of thespecies to regenerate due to the depleting ofseed trees without producing the sunnyconditions required for mahogany seedlings tosurvive and grow (Snook, 1996). Because ofthe incompatibility between the regenerationecology of mahogany and selective logging,mahogany is typically treated like anon-renewable resource, and mined out of theforests where it is found. A financial analysisof the return to mahogany mining on aBolivian timber concession led Rice et al.(1997) to conclude that sustainablemanagement of natural mahogany forests wasnot competitive and therefore not viable either.

Long-term thinkingFortunately, the forest-owning communities inQuintana Roo, Mexico, and the Programmefor Belize (PfB), Belize, are interested inmanaging their forests in the long term and forthe benefit of future generations. The familieswho share title to communally-owned forestsin Mexico consider their grandchildren'swelfare when they make decisions; themanagers of the Rio Bravo Conservation andManagement Area in Belize consider thefuture welfare of the people of Belize, for theyown and manage this area (6% of Belize) 'intrust for the people of Belize'.

This concern for the long term led theforward-thinking foresters who advise thecommunities of the Organización de EjidosProductores Forestales de la Zona Maya(OEPFZM), and the leaders of the PfB, toencourage or actively seek the support ofresearchers in determining how to sustainablyproduce mahogany timber from their forests.Individual forest researchers had begun toaddress this issue in the late 1980s, incollaboration with forest communities. Initialresearch revealed that mahogany had typicallyregenerated in the Maya forest in response tohurricanes followed by wildfire (Snook, 2002).The next challenge was to determine how tocreate similar conditions using silviculturaltechniques.



FindingsFive years later, measurements revealedrobust, management-relevant patterns. Theslash and burn techniques used to establishshifting agricultural fields in Mexico werefound to favour the survival and growth ofmahogany, from seed or from plantedseedlings. Uprooting patches of forest usingbulldozers was almost as effective, favouringthe establishment and growth of seedlingsfrom natural regeneration, sown seed orplanting. On clearings produced in either ofthese ways, cleaning, a costly periodicintervention intended to reduce competition,was found to be neither necessary nordesirable: it did not significantly favourgrowth, but greatly increased the rate ofattack by pests. Overall, the experimentsrevealed that forest owners could sustain andincrease mahogany populations in theirforests by applying effective, low-costtechniques to only 3% of their annual cuttingarea each year (Snook and Negreros, inpress).

All the landowners involved in the researchare adaptive managers, willing and able tointegrate into their management this newknowledge about mahogany silviculture. Forexample, in the past, communities modifiedtheir harvest rates in response to moreaccurate forest inventories (Bray et al. inpress). In Mexico, communities were able toincorporate into their forest management boththe shifting agriculture practised by most oftheir nearly 10 000 heads of household; andmechanical clearing, used to open log-loadingyards. Mechanical clearing is more feasibleon the RBCMA, where shifting agriculture isnot part of the land use mosaic and whereforest managers' fear using fire as amanagement tool.

Lessons learntWhat lessons can be drawn from theseexperiences? For one thing, support for forestowners on the part of bilateral organizations,multilateral organizations, conservationist

NGOs and private foundations from the USand Europe has successfully contributed tothe development of the capacity of forestowners and their foresters to manage andconserve these forests, while building newfoundations for sustainable livelihoods. Inaddition, by supporting partnerships betweenresearchers and forest owners, donors haveenabled these players to combine theirrespective assets in order to take the lead indeveloping feasible solutions to the challengesof sustainable forestry in the tropics. Newinsights into mahogany silviculture,determined from studies on these forests, areapplicable to sustaining mahoganypopulations and harvests on millions ofhectares of forests elsewhere in the Mayaregion and South America. Finally, it isimportant to recognise that there are tropicalforest managers and owners who do not rejectsustainable forest management based onfinancial calculations of net present value.These forest owners and their researcherpartners have provided the opportunity for theworld to learn that sustaining mahogany inproduction forests, and thus sustainabletropical forestry, is feasible as well asdesirable.

Further information (also about references):Dr Laura K. SnookCenter for International Forestry Research(CIFOR)P.O.Box 6595 JKPWB, Jakarta, IndonesiaE-mail: [email protected]

PARTNERSHIPS FOR SUSTAINABLEFOREST MANAGEMENT: LESSONSFROM ESMERALDAS PROVINCE INECUADOR

By Nathalie Walker and Laura Rival

The coastal province of Esmeraldas inEcuador has received attention from a number



of international conservation anddevelopment organisations because of thehigh levels of biodiversity in its moist tropicalforests, the high rate of deforestation and thehigh level of poverty in the region. The forestsform part of the Chocó biogeographic region,which has been designated a biodiversity'hotspot', but the forests of Esmeraldas havebeen reduced to less than 10% of theiroriginal size due to agricultural activity, oilpalm plantations and unsustainable logging.

In contrast to many countries in LatinAmerica, very little forest is state owned andover 70% of the forests are communityowned. The majority of the timber in Ecuadoris produced in Esmeraldas province and mostof the remaining forests are owned oroccupied by Afroecuadorian and indigenousChachi and Awá communities. This situationhas provided an incentive for the formation ofpartnerships between communities and bothNGOs and timber companies to set upsustainable forestry operations and to seekcertification from the Forest StewardshipCouncil.

This study analyses the views and findings ofnational and international NGOs, loggingcompanies and communities involved in suchpartnerships in the north of Esmeraldasprovince in order to understand their potentialand limitations. Preliminary results are basedon a series of in-depth interviews withrepresentatives of stakeholder institutions. Anumber of issues were found to be importantto all partnership schemes, namelycommunity organisation, land ownership andland security, ease of transport, access tomarkets, external financing and expertise andgovernment legislation. The challenges ofattaining forest certification and the benefitsthis could afford are also considered.

Conditions for successful partnershipsFeatures of communities that were found tofacilitate the success of forestry operationsinclude a strong organisation with a good

level of cooperation and planning and a soundawareness and understanding of the need forforestry to be carried out sustainably. Thereare many differences in community structureand organisation between the Afroecuadoriancommunities and the indigenous communitiesin Esmeraldas and it is important for partnerorganisations to take these into account.Where partnerships between communities andtimber companies are concerned, a strongcommunity organisation is particularlyimportant and community empowerment, withexternal support, may be required to ensurethat the partnerships are fair and thatcommunities have the capacity andinformation to negotiate with the companies.

Ecuadorian law entitles indigenouscommunities to land tenure and communityland cannot be sold, but invasions bycolonists, logging and the activities of oil palmcompanies have altered the situation.Partnerships were able to help to legitimisethe forestry operations and could help preventsuch invasions. The Afroecuadoriancommunities involved in forest managementprogrammes with NGOs obtained land tenurewith legal assistance from the NGOs and thishelped the communities to benefit from thealliance early on. Land tenure is often apre-requisite for the success of forestryoperations but there can be additionalcomplications. Some communities had internalland ownership problems such as areas ofland within the community territories that wereowned by individuals or families and disputesbetween communities about the boundariesbetween their territories are common andneed to be resolved before the logging canbegin.

Partnerships were able to provide expertise inall areas of forest management and thetraining of community members is of primeimportance. Training helps to empowercommunities and results in the involvement ofa lot of community members and improveslocal enthusiasm for the partnership.



ConstraintsThe forested areas in the north of Esmeraldashave few roads and most communities arespread out along a network of rivers, whichare used to transport timber to coastal townsfor processing and sale. Transportationdifficulties have been a constraint to schemesbut the ability to obtain fair prices for timber isequally important, especially in Esmeraldas,where timber prices have fluctuated greatly inthe last five years. Partnerships can providecommunities with greater market access andthe ability to cut out middlemen so that theycan obtain better prices for their timber.

It is widely agreed that communities will notbe able to carry out sustainable forestryoperations without external financing, which iswhy there is a need for partnerships to beformed. In a number of cases, where profitsare obtained relatively early on in theoperation, communities are more likely to bemore supportive but it is important that theyhave a realistic idea of the levels of profitsthat they can expect.

Government legislation on forests has onlysupported sustainable forest management inEcuador during the last few years in the guiseof new forest norms and measures put inplace to reduce illegal logging. Thepartnerships between communities andNGOs have helped to influence governmentpolicy and there are good connections inEcuador between people working forinternational NGOs and governmentpolicymakers, particularly regardingdecentralisation and policy implementation.

PotentialsCertification can provide access to newmarkets and can enable forestry operators toacquire better prices for their products. Thecertification process is also seen as anopportunity for an external evaluation of theoperation. However, in all cases, theconditions and preconditions required havebeen found to be extremely demanding. At

present, although a number of schemes havestarted the evaluation process, none have yetattained certification.

Partnerships between communities and NGOsor timber companies have the potential to helpdevelop an impoverished region of Ecuadorwhilst at the same time protecting itsinternationally important and threatenedforests. Alliances require a considerableamount of financing, but there is greatpotential for success and if a few schemesprove successful and are able to attaincertification, they may be able to serve as amodel that will lead to such initiativesspreading.

Further information:Nathalie WalkerQueen Elizabeth House, InternationalDevelopment Centre21 St. Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LAUnited KingdomE-mail: [email protected]

PARTNERSHIPS ACROSS SCALES:LESSONS FROM EXTRACTIVERESERVES IN BRAZILIAN AMAZONIA

By Sergio Rosendo

Tropical forest management is becomingincreasingly complex in terms of its objectives,actors involved and the processes in whichthey are involved. Forests must nowadays bemanaged concurrently for a variety of goals,which range from maintaining local livelihoodsto conserving biodiversity and ecologicalprocesses. The local to global significance oftropical forests means a proliferation of actorsat different levels directly or indirectly involvedin forest management. In tropical forests, localand global processes come together asdifferent stakeholders need to collaborate inorder to ensure that management fulfils



multiple goals. Partnerships have becomeimportant approaches to manage tropicalforests. Common types of partnershipsinclude those between government andprivate sector companies, communities andthe private sector, community-basedorganisations (CBOs) and non-governmentalorganisations (NGOs), CBOs and government(also known as co-management); and localgovernment and NGOs.

The complexity of partnershipsDespite synergistic objectives, workingtogether in partnerships is not always astraightforward process. Partnerships oftenbring together stakeholders that have differentinterests and organisational capacities,operate at different spatial and temporalscales and are governed by divergentworldviews and values. Partnerships do noteliminate power and conflict between actors.Competition over agenda setting, overresources and the distribution of benefits areever-present in partnerships, albeit a subtle ordissimulated way. It is important to improveour understanding of how partnerships work,what their limitations are and how they can bemade to lead to more effective, efficient,equitable and legitimate outcomes.

The example of rubber tappers Our study explores the evolution andoutcomes of interactions betweenorganisations of rubber tappers and keyactors involved in the creation,implementation and management ofextractive reserves in Rondônia, in theBrazilian Amazonia. The interactions betweenthese actors have evolved in a context ofpartnerships and co-management. Extractivereserves are protected areas designated forthe sustainable use of natural resources bythe resident population. They aim to achievemultiple goals including conservingbiodiversity, satisfying the basic needs of thepopulation and strengthening socialorganisation as a means of guaranteeing theirparticipatory management. The interactions

between the different actors involved inextractive reserves are examined in terms ofthe oppor tun i t ies fo r grassrootsempowerment, barriers to effective integrationbetween institutions within partnerships andrequirements for better integration betweeninstitutions in partnerships.

Further information:Sergio RosendoCentre for Social and Economic Research onthe Global Environment (CSERGE)University of East AngliaNR4 7TJ Norwich United KingdomE-mail: [email protected]

NEGOTIATING SOLUTIONS FORL O C A L S U S T A I N A B L ED E V E L O P M E N T A N D T H EPREVENTION OF DEFORESTATION INTHE BRAZILIAN AMAZON

By Imme Scholz

In the Brazilian Amazon, deforestation hasbeen largely the result of public policyinterventions. In the period 1960-1990, fiscalincentives for large cattle ranches, roadconstruction, infrastructure projects andplanned colonisation were introduced largelyunder conditions of a military regime. Sincethe new constitution of 1988, however, therehave been ample possibilities for politicalparticipation by local and federal-stategovernments as well as for social movementsand the population as such, especiallyregarding environmental protection. Thismeans that nowadays local stakeholders andtheir interests have to be taken intoconsideration when the federal governmentplans new investments in the Amazon.

Partnership typesThe increased local capacity to evaluate



federal investment projects critically can beseen as the result of two types ofpartnerships:

In the 1980s, international public attentionwas drawn to the social and ecological costsof the Brazilian development strategy for theAmazon, especially after the murder of therubber tapper Chico Mendes in 1988. This ledto the engagement of numerous NGOs,foundations and other organisations from theindustrialised world in the Amazon, whowanted to support local social movementsand NGOs in their struggle for localdevelopment.In the 1990s, this first type of internationalpartnerships among civil society organisationsled to the establishment of an officialcooperation among the Brazilian governmentand the G7 countries for the protection andsustainable use of the Brazilian tropicalforests - the Pilot Programme to Protect theBrazilian Tropical Forests - PPG7. Thisprogramme channelled considerable fundsinto the development of environmentalcapacities at federal and regional level,including both environmental authorities andcivil society organisations, with the aim beingto reduce deforestation rates andCO2-emissions as well as to promotealternative sustainable production systems.

The second type of international partnershipenabled the Federal Ministry of theEnvironment (MMA - Ministério do MeioAmbiente) to redefine its role and to establishitself as a strategic partner for local socialmovements in the Amazon. Since 1994, theMMA Secretariat for the Amazon Region inparticular has strongly promoted allianceswith social movements and NGOs, in order toincrease its bargaining power at federal level.The question arises as to whether thesepartnerships between local social movementsand the MMA and international NGOs areeffective when it comes to negotiations aboutlarge investment projects. With the newfederal government, led by the Workers' Party

PT, opportunities for dialogue andnegotiations have increased considerably.

Scope of the studyOur study summarises the results of ananalysis of the political controversiesregarding the construction of a dam and ahydroelectric power plant in the Xingú river(Belo Monte), close to Altamira at theTransamazônica, and the paving of the roadbetween Cuiabá and Santarém (BR-163).Both projects are located in the state of Pará.They entail high environmental risks:accelerated deforestation due to higherimmigration, enormous disturbance of theXingú river and the living conditions of thelocal population, including indigenous peoples,and the reproduction of fauna and flora. InAltamira, the expected adverse impacts havestimulated effective legal action by local civilsociety - especially peasants' associations, thechurches and NGOs - in order to inform thelocal population about the risks of the projectand to delay the beginning of the work. In thecase of the BR-163, the paved road as such iswelcomed by everyone but its associatedimpacts are regarded with mixed feelings, asit will facilitate the expansion of soy farmingand cattle ranching. Large soy farmers fromMato Grosso, one of the largest soy-producingregions in Brazil and world-wide, have themain stake in the paved road because it willconsiderably reduce their transportation coststo world markets via the port of Santarém.

ResultsThe research results can be summarised asfollows: • The capacity of local civil and public

actors to engage in dialogue andnegotiations and cope effectively withhighly complex conflicts depends verymuch on their ability to establish localcoalitions around clearly definedobjectives and strategies, as well as ontheir ability to correctly understand theinterrelated nature of the local social,economic and environmental impacts of



the planned investment projects. • Environmental awareness is much more

developed among social movements thanamong public actors at local and regionallevel. Local social movements learnedlessons from the large investmentprojects of the past, but also benefitedfrom the PPG7 subprojects aimed atpromoting sustainable productionmethods by financing local experiments.These projects enabled them tostrengthen their infrastructure and toengage in economic-ecological learningprocesses.

• Negotiations are not sustainable ifimportant actors do not participate. Thegovernment of the state of Pará is notpresent either in Altamira or in Santarém,and neither is its environmental authorityengaging in dialogue with local actors norin environmental monitoring and controlactivities. Federal environmentalauthorities exist at local level, but do nothave the necessary human and financialresources to fill the gap left by federalstate and local authorities. In addition tothat, powerful local economic actors oftenprefer to achieve their objective by usingviolence rather than by participating innegotiations.

• The weakness or even absence of legalinstitutions (judiciary, police) is a severeobstacle for civil society action and theimplementation of environmental lawprescriptions. The close partnershipbetween local social movements and theMinistério Público Federal (FederalProsecutor) has often been crucial forpreventing the complete undermining ofenvironmental law.

Lessons learntTwo preliminary lessons can be drawn fromthese results:• International partnerships contribute

significantly to the strengthening of localnetworks of social movements andNGOs. Such networks are important to

make public actors aware of the socialand environmental risks associated withlarge public investments, but cannot dothe job of the public sector. Thesep a r t n e r s h i p s s h o u l d i n c l u d eenvironmental capacity building amongpublic actors in order to increase theirproblem-solving capabilities.

• The weakness of the legal system is amajor bottleneck for environmental andforest protection. Violence and impunityare two of the main obstacles forparticipation of local stakeholders innatural resource management planning.

Note:The paper is based on field research carriedout between February and May 2003 in Braziltogether with Daniel Dräger, Isabelle Floer,Constanze Neher and Julia Unger.

Further information:Dr Imme ScholzGerman Development Institute Tulpenfeld 4 D-53113 Bonn Germany E-mail: [email protected]: www.die-gdi.de

G L O B A L I S A T I O N A N D T H EENVIRONMENT: THE EFFECTS OFTHE FINANCIAL CRISIS ON TROPICALFOREST MANAGEMENT IN BRAZILIANAMAZONIA

By Sjur Kasa and Lars Otto Næss

Two main views have dominated the debateon globalisation and the environment over thelast decade. One view argues that thefinancial and economic instability created byliberalising financial markets during the 1980sand 1990s undermines the ability of



developing countries to manage theirenvironment in a sustainable manner.Another, more optimistic view holds thatlinking environmental problems in developingcountries to 'new' global issues such asclimate change and biodiversity loss, as wellas the emergence of transnational networksof environmental NGOs, may motivate andenable states to improve their environmentalpractices and to introduce environmentallybenign local practices by disseminatingknowledge and empowering marginalisedgroups.

Contrasting impactsBrazil provides an interesting case forstudying how these forces have been playedout and how they have affected tropical forestmanagement in the Brazilian Amazonia. since1994, the country has gone through anextensive liberalisation and privatisationprocess and Brazil was also hit hard by themajor 'Asia-Russia-Brazil' financial crisis of1997-99. Brazil came under considerablepressure during the crisis, which led to adevaluation of the Brazilian Real and massivecuts in national budgets. IBAMA, the nationalenvironmental agency, experienced budgetreductions of up to 90% in 1999.

The impacts of this crisis on forestmanagement seem more complex however.Increasing attention to the deforestation inAmazonia and its effects on biodiversity loss,climate change and the livelihoods of localpeople had already triggered very strongpressure on the government from the late1980s onwards, coupled with an emergingwave of transnational environmentalmobilisation. Initiatives involving foreignfunding, notably the Pilot Program toConserve the Brazilian Rain Forest (PPG7),were not affected by the crisis. For example,a PPG7-funded monitoring system wassuccessfully introduced in Mato Grosso, runby the state government. After it wasintroduced, the deforestation rates in the statewere reduced by a third from previous years.

Likewise, a number of NGOs, such as theInstitute of Environmental Research forAmazônia (IPAM) and the Brazilian branchesof Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace wereable, thanks at least partly to foreign funds, toexpand their activities in Amazonia during thecrisis. Moreover, NGOs such as the Institutefor Agricultural and Forest Management andCertification (IMAFLORA) and WWF-Brazilhave promoted campaigns for the certificationof timber under the Forest StewardshipCouncil (FSC) criteria, which have had asignificant impact. The financial crisis, alongwith the devaluation of the Brazilian Real,increased the attractiveness of the exportmarket. However, controversies over the FSCcertification system run high, and many arguethat with only 15% of the Brazilian timbergoing for export, it will only have an impact onforest management in the Amazon if itmanages to penetrate the domestic market aswell.

Improved forest managementThe above suggests that active NGOs - atlocal and international level - as well as newforest management systems implemented bystate governments ameliorated the impacts ofthe 1998-99 financial crisis in Brazil and led toimprovements in the tropical forestmanagement systems over the same period.Foreign funding played a part, but the limitedeffect may also be explained by the fact thatBrazil has well-established and robustinstitutions and that the crisis did notprecipitate the kind of institutional breakdownas was seen in Southeast Asia. While theeconomic and political instability in Brazil ofthe early 1990s produced a very fragile settingfor institutional consolidation of theenvironmental sector, the economic andpolitical stabilisation following the inaugurationof President Cardoso in 1994 undoubtedlycontributed to such consolidation. Economicstability was a key precondition for a moreeffective public sector in general asuncontrollable inflation also decreased the realvalue of government funding.



It is important to note, however, that despitesigns of improved forest management insome parts of Amazonia, deforestation -caused by the three main forces of cattleranching, soybean cultivation and logging - isstill widespread in the Amazonia as a whole.

Further information:Dr Sjur Kasa ([email protected])Lars Otto Næss ([email protected])CICERO (Center for International Climate andEnvironmental Research)Oslo, Norway

THE GUIANA SHIELD INITIATIVE AS AMULTI-LEVEL STRATEGY FORS U S T A I N A B L E F O R E S TMANAGEMENT

By Pitou van Dijck

The Guiana Shield region is among theworld's most ancient geological formationsand includes all of Guyana, Suriname andFrench Guiana as well as parts of Colombia,Venezuela and Brazil. The region is home toone of the last pristine forest areas in theworld. From an environmental and biologicalperspective the region is characterised by anextremely diverse endemic flora that hasevolved on this precambian geologicalformation. From an anthropological andcultural perspective, the region is the habitatof a variety of indigenous communities whichdepend on the ecosystem to maintain theirlifestyles.

The Guiana Shield region is currently in thespotlight as one of the few areas that can bepreserved before irreparable damage is done.

The overall objective of the Guiana ShieldInitiative (GSI) is to promote ecologicallysustainable management of the region. Theinitiative will focus on cooperation with local

stakeholders, i.e. indigenous and other localinhabitants, local authorities, NGOs,academics, intergovernmental andinternational organisations and the privatesector.

The initiative is made up of the followingcomponents:• The Guiana Shield Regional Trust Fund• Sustainable development corporations• Mapping and monitoring• Information, education and training

The Regional Trust Fund is the mechanism bywhich the nations in the region may bereimbursed by the international community -through the Global Environmental Facility - fortheir public goods services including carbonsequestration and stocking of biodiversity. TheInitiative takes a bottom-up approach byplacing the conservation in the hands of thelocal people who may function as ecosystemmanagers in specified areas.

Our presentation will focus on the goals andinstruments of the Initiative and particularly onthe potential role of the inhabitants of theregion in conserving the forest and the publicgoods it provides for the region and indeed theentire world. Model contracts will be studied asa means for integrating services of localinhabitants into the Initiative.

Further information:Dr Pitou van DijckCEDLAKeizersgracht 395/397 1016 EK Amsterdam The NetherlandsE-mail: [email protected]



V I I I T H E I M P A C T O FDECENTRALISATION ON FORESTRESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Localisation as discussed here refers tothe devolution of land rights and authorityover natural resources to local populationand user groups and lower levelauthorities. It has been argued thatdecentralised systems of forestmanagement can lead to moresustainable and equitable use ofresources, as decision-makers arelocated closer to, and are more directlyinvolved in, the resource to which theirpolicies and interventions refer.Decentralisation is also supposed toenhance more local participation inrecourse allocation decisions, greateraccountability and more sustainable useof natural resources. On the other hand,decentralisation and devolution of landrights brings new actors into the arena,with potentially conflicting interests,objectives, mandates and values - notleast with central government agenciespreviously responsible for forest andnatural resource management.Decentralised power also allows lowerlevel authorities to raise local revenues,thereby creating an incentive to exploitthe forest beyond sustainable levels. Thefollowing articles discuss to what extentand under wh ich cond i t ionsdecentralisation and devolution of landrights can stimulate more democratic andsustainable forest management.

S Central control of local resourcemanagement: the impacts of devolution(Eva Wollenberg, Bruce Campbell,Sheona Shackleton and David Edmunds)

S The impact of decentralised forestgovernance: a case study from Bolivia

(Wil de Jong, Michel Becker, Sergio Ruizand Carmen Gottwald)

S Redistribution of Indonesian forests:impacts of decentralisation on power inforest management (Hanna Kaisti)

S Management of forest areas in Indonesiafollowing forest policy decentralisation(Retno Maryani)

S Devolution of forest management: acautionary case of Pukhtun Jirgas indispute settlements (Pakistan) (SaraSouthwold-Llewellyn)

S Entitling local communities in forestmanagement: has decentralised forestmanagement affected charcoal productionpractices in Eastern Senegal? (MaaikeSnel and Johan Post)

S Natural resource management anddecentralisation in Senegal : thedownside of decentralisation (LaurenceBoutinot)

S Rural wood markets and decentralisationin Mali. Some issues (Baptiste Hautdidierand Laurence Boutinot)

CENTRAL CONTROL OF LOCALRESOURCE MANAGEMENT: THEIMPACTS OF DEVOLUTION

By Eva Wollenberg, Bruce Campbell, SheonaShackleton and David Edmunds

Devolution policies have sought to transfercontrol over natural resource management(NRM) to local people. Yet the state hascontinued to control the terms of mostdevolved NRM initiatives. While there arelegitimate roles for the state, we questionwhether a better balance needs to be soughtbetween local and 'wider' NRM interests . Wesummarise the extent to which such balancehas occurred, drawing on Asian and Africancase studies.

Who controls and makes decisions?



The case studies showed that centralauthorities continued to drive the NRMagenda, despite the rhetoric. Except in casesin which NGOs or donors played a strongrole, governments determined the nature ofthe shifts in control. In most instances theyretained key aspects of managementauthority, placing tight constraints on localdecision-making and sometimes rendering itmeaningless. Most fundamental ly,governments did not entrust people withrights to own the land and resources.

Thus, proprietary rights over resources suchas wildlife were devolved to a local level inNamibia, Zambia and Botswana. However,governments continued to determine off-takequotas and communities were largelyprevented from hunting game for subsistence.In India and the Philippines, governmentofficials controlled planning, supervised thebudgets and decision-making processes oflocal organisations and, in the former,controlled the marketing of timber andvaluable forest products. In only a few casesdid local people acquire land ownership (e.g.Maluleke case in South Africa).

In terms of organisations receiving devolvedauthority (Box 1), arrangements thattransferred authority directly to disadvantagedpeople tended to be more responsive to localneeds than those that allocated control tohigher levels such as local government ordistrict structures. Where community-basedcorporate structures were able to engage inautonomous planning, local residents hadrecognised rights to determine their ownboundaries and membership, select theirmanagement structures and procedures anddevelop their own constitutions, by-laws,sanctions and management plans. They alsoreceived benefits of up to 100%. In somecountries a demand-driven movement toestablish such initiatives more effectively wasemerging. The China cases were noteworthyfor the relative independence thatcommunities enjoyed under household and

shareholding arrangements. By contrast,committees that were created by forestdepartments tended to be upwardlyaccountable to them and enjoyed littleindependence. Where communities alreadyenjoyed autonomy and benefits underself-initiated management, devolution policiessometimes resulted in a loss ofdecision-making authority and benefits.

Local capacity: the key to makingdevolution more responsive to localinterests? The degree of organisation amongst poorresource users and their knowledge of theirrights was a critical factor influencingoutcomes. Where local people were wellorganised and had alliances with NGOs orother influential groups, they managed tosecure greater control and benefits. In Maputiin the Philippines, local users had a forestmanagement agreement with outsidersrevoked, thus protecting local access; inOrissa, India, federations of forest userorganisations pressed government to honouragreements about rights to benefits. Wherelocal people were aware of their rights andknowledgeable of the constitutions that guidedtheir NRM committees, they were able tochallenge elitist behaviour within committees.

Towards a better balance of state and localroles • Most devolved NRM reflects some

continuation of state control over naturalresources rather than a genuine shift inauthority.

• Organisational models that devolveauthority directly to disadvantagedresource users embrace local interestsmore than those that allocate control tohigher levels of social organisation.

• Strong local organisational capacityenhances outcomes for local people byenabling them to mobilise resources andnegotiate better. NGOs, donors,federations and other external actors



have a key role in moving devolutionpolicy and practice towards localinterests.

Box 1: Organisational foundations of devolution

The types of organisations that exercised 'local' authority and the direction of theiraccountability had a strong influence on whether the outcomes were favourable for localpeople. The following organisational models were identified:

• District organisations such as district councils (e.g. Zimbabwe), Panchayats(India), multi-stakeholder structures aligned to line departments (e.g. Wildlife ManagementAuthorities - Zambia, forest farms (China). The measure of downward accountability variedfrom very little to modest. • Village committees facilitated by government departments, e.g. Forest ProtectionCommittees in India. Here, accountability related to the degree of control transferred by thestate and the extent to which local elites took over the process. • Corporate, legal organisations composed of all rights holders/residents, e.g. Trusts(Botswana), Conservancies (Namibia) and Villages (Tanzania). Since the legitimacy ofthese organisations is derived from the community, interference by the state was lesspervasive than in the preceding arrangements. • Household-based and individual management (China, Philippines), whereindividuals exercised varying degrees of authority over tree management and use. Thestate maintained control by providing access to technology, permitting systems, planningrequirements, fees and taxes.• Self-initiated organisations operating outside of the state. Cases ranged fromtraditional institutions to Residents Associations and shareholding schemes. Self-initiatedschemes were often accountable to disadvantaged users, but were often co-opted by elitesor officials in the absence of a supportive policy and laws

Acknowledgements:We would like to thank the case study authorsinvolved in this research and the donors whoprovided funding (USAID, the EuropeanUnion, CSIR (Pretoria) and the IFAD).

Further information (including aboutreferences):

Dr Lini Wollenberg ([email protected])and Prof. Dr Bruce Campbell([email protected]), CIFOR, Bogor,Indonesia

Sheona Shackleton([email protected]),Rhodes University, Grahamstown, SouthAfrica

David Edmunds, Consultant([email protected])


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THE IMPACT OF DECENTRALISEDFOREST GOVERNANCE: A CASESTUDY FROM BOLIVIA

By Wil de Jong, Michel Becker, Sergio Ruizand Carmen Gottwald

The last decade has seen profound overhaulsof governance in many tropical countries.Countries have adopted new economicpolicies, under considerably influence fromfree-market thinking and a reduced regulatoryrole of the state and its subsidiaries. Thiscoincided with widespread decentralisation ofgovernment, including natural resourcegovernance. Bolivia is famous primarily for itsAndean uplands, but substantial parts of itsterritory are tropical forests. The economy ofthe northern part of the country, in particular,relies for a large part on income from forestproducts like Brazil nuts and timber.

Regulatory frameworkDuring the 1990s, Bolivia enacted a set ofnew national laws that are affecting forestproducts-based industries. The principal lawsare several decentralisation laws, a new landreform law and a new forestry law. The newregulatory framework has resulted in aprogressively larger ownership of forest landand forests by rural communities. The impactthat this has had on people's livelihoods is stillnot entirely clear. In northern Bolivia, there isevidence that conflicts over natural resourcesare increasing. There is also evidence thatsome of the feudal dependency relations thatexisted before the programme of legal reformare adapting to the new legal frameworkinstead of disappearing. A new type of timbertycoons replaced the rubber and Brazil nutbarons from earlier days. The localcommunities, new owners of forests, still haveinadequate skills, knowledge and leveragethat free them from the patronage of thesenew rulers of the north. Political patronage bypeople seeking votes for public office

dominates village level politics in manylocations and hinders the true democratisationof rural Bolivia.

ProspectsDespite these initial shortcomings, thedecentralisation of natural resourcegovernance has had recognisable positiveoutcomes. The fact that local people are to bethe legal owners of about half of the northernBolivia forest region means new opportunitieswill be created that did not exist before.Besides income from Brazil nuts and otherforest products, local communities will nowincreasingly be able to enjoy benefits fromtimber. Providing that illegal logging can becontrolled, this also opens the way forsustainable forest production. However, theenvisioned positive impact will need moretime than initially expected.

Further information:

Dr Wil de Jong ([email protected]),CIFOR, Bogor, Indonesia

Dr Michel Becker([email protected]),

Sergio Ruiz([email protected]) and

Carmen Gottwald([email protected]), Institute for Forest Policy: Markets andMarketing, University of Freiburg, Germany



REDISTRIBUTION OF INDONESIANF O R E S T S : I M P A C T S O FDECENTRALISATION ON POWER INFOREST MANAGEMENT

By Hanna Kaisti

Tropical forests have become politically visiblesites of competing interests between global,national and local actors, and of divergingconceptions with respect to their intrinsic andinstrumental or market value. This politicalnature of tropical forests can also be seen inIndonesia, which is one of the world's mostbiologically diverse countries, but where therate of annual deforestation is alarming, about1.6 million hectares per year.

During the past few years, forest managementhas changed significantly as a part of a widerpolitical reformation which began in 1998,when the authoritarian president Suharto wasforced to step down. Since then, Indonesiahas undergone a process of rapid andfar-reaching political, economical andadministrative decentralisation, which has hada great impact on the use and conservation offorests. This process is a radical change inpolitics, because during president Suharto'sso called New Order regime (1967-1998)national development was based on higheconomic growth and the control of naturalresources was strictly centralised. For thethree decades of Suharto's power, Indonesiahad one of the most rapidly growingeconomies in the world. The forest sector wasan important part of this economic growth, butthe price has been high since the large-scalelogging and plantation activities have hadsevere environmental and socialconsequences.

New actors, conflicts and possibilities The decentralisation process has caused aconsiderable degree of political andeconomical power to be transferred from the

national government to 370 localgovernments. According to the newdecentralisation laws, the districts andmunicipalities now get a more substantialshare from the natural resources extractedfrom the area and they have the authority todecide how to allocate their own budgets.Local governments are also obliged to collectlocal revenues and this has created pressuresto log forests in order to generate income.

The revised Basic Forestry Law of 1999,which outlines the division of authority in theforestry sector under regional autonomy,gives the district head the right to issue 100ha forest concessions. This was meant toallow the district government to generateincome so that the timber royalties could bekept within the region rather than being sentto Jakarta. In 2002, the Ministry of Forestrysuspended this regulation, but thissuspension has not had much of an impactsince district heads feel they can now ignoredirectives from the central governmentbecause of the powers given to them by thedecentralisation laws. In some areas thegranting of small-scale logging concessionshas increased deforestation and createdsocial tensions, because in many cases oldand new concession areas are overlapping.

The decentralisation process has at least insome respect changed the position of thesystem of customary rights or practices, whichare collectively known as adat law. Differentethnic cultures function under different norms,rules and resource management strategiesand spiritual belief systems. The way in whichadat land or forest is defined and used hasbecome one of the key determinants of howforest resources are allocated, for example inKalimantan and Sumatra. The lack of clarityand the abuse of the opportunities to makeclaims have contributed to the atmosphere ofconflict in some areas. So far the claims havemostly been oriented towards gettingcompensation for lost or damaged forest. Inthe long term it can increase political


ETFRN News 39-40/03 103

mobilisation based on sentiments related withterritory, ethnicity and religion.

Impact of decentralisation on forestmanagement Experience from other countries suggests thatdecentralised systems of forest managementcan lead to more sustainable and equitableuse of resources, as decision-makers arephysically located closer to where the policiesare implemented. Decentralisation also offersan opportunity to move towards more localparticipation in recourse allocation decisions,greater accountability and more sustainableuse of natural resources.

In Indonesia the decentralisation process isvery recent and the regional autonomy hasbeen implemented for less than two years, soit is impossible to draw any definitiveconclusions. Compared to the previous era,when a very small elite close to Suhartocontrolled basically all natural resources, thedecentralisation process is no doubt abeneficial reform. Until now, however, theimplementation of decentralisation has beencharacterised by intense power strugglesamong different levels of governance, each ofwhich represents a competing set of politicaland economic interests. Rules and regulationsissued by authorities at different levels areoften contradictory and their implementation isdeficient. The political participation effect ofthe decentralisation also falls short sincealmost no district government official isaccountable to his or her constituencies anddistrict residents through direct elections. Theheads of the region have a lot of power andcorruption is common. The economic andpolitical benefits to local forest-dependentcommunities remain unclear, since thedistribution of the wealth from the extraction ofnatural resources at local level is far frombeing equal.

From the environmental perspective,decentralisation has created both pressureand an opportunity for revenue generation at

local level, but the focus has so far been onshort-term income generation without anylong-term planning and control. Protectedareas and conservation areas potentially facea greater risk from logging or mining activitiessince they are not economically productiveareas.

Having said all this, one must emphasise thata changing political system in a country aslarge and culturally diverse as Indonesiatakes time. The change in forest politics can,in the future, create a new sense of powerand political identity for groups which werepreviously excluded from decision-makingprocesses. This could lead to a lesseconomic-oriented way of seeing the forestand hopefully to the recognition that otherforest functions also exist.

Further information: Hanna Kaisti Department of Political Science andInternational Relations FIN-33014 University of Tampere Finland E-mail: [email protected]

MANAGEMENT OF FOREST AREAS ININDONESIA FOLLOWING FORESTPOLICY DECENTRALISATION

By Retno Maryani

The forest conditions in Indonesia are largelyshaped by natural causes such as fire anddrought, by management practices and bypolicy incentives. The three causes togetherinduce changes in the country's forest cover.Several studies suggest that complex patternsexist between causal changes, agents ofchanges and levels of causation (Sunderlinand Resosudarmo, 1996; Kaimowitz andAngelsen, 1998; Geist and Lambin, 2001).



While it is important to identify the cause andagent of forest changes, the institutionalarrangements play important roles in shapingbehaviour of the agent and vice versa, whichfurther affect the condition of forests inIndonesia.

DecentralisationForest policy decentralisation creates newinstitutional arrangements which differ fromcentralisation. Building on the work done byKissling-Naf and Bisang (2001), we identifyfour major elements of an institutionalarrangement:• The framework of state constitution and

formal regulations.• Policy designs or the policy instruments

that reflect the strategy through whichgoals and objectives are pursued.

• Management structures or the way tasksand authority are distributed and in whichdemocratic decision and participation areencouraged.

• Property, disposal and use rights thatregulate society's interactions with forestresources.

Each element of the arrangement has certainfunctions and differs in nature according to theuse of forest resources. Any adjustment ofexternal orders therefore simultaneouslyaffects the goals set by actors as well as theirstrategies to achieve these goals, hence theactions of people.

Before-and-after comparisonIn our study, we compare two differentsettings of institutional arrangements beforeand after forest policy decentralisation. Wepresent preliminary findings from fieldobservations combined with related reports onongoing forestry activities and forestconditions in a selected district in the EastKalimantan province. The aim of the analysisis to explain the interactions betweeninstitutional arrangements and the behaviourof people under different settings and forestconditions. It is hoped that the elements which

benefit forest policy decentralisation can beidentified in order to enhance sustainabletropical forest use, in particular for thebenefits of local people.

References:Colfer, C.J.P. and Resosudarmo, I.A.P.(2002). Which way forward? People, forestsand policy making in Indonesia. Washington:Resources for the Future. Kaimowitz, D. and A. Angelsen (1998).Economic models of tropical deforestation Areview. Bogor: CIFOR. Geist H.J. and Lambin, E.. (2001). Whatdrives tropical deforestation? A meta-analysisof proximate causes of deforestation basedon subnational case study evidence. LUCCReport Series No. 4.http://www.geo.ucl.ac.be/LUCC/lucc.htmlKissling-Naf and Bisang (2001). Rethinkingrecent changes of forest regimes in Europethrough property-rights theory and policyanalysis. Journal of Forest Policy andEconomics 3: 99-111. Sunderlin, W.D. and Resosudarmo, I.A.P.(1996).Rates and causes of deforestation inIndonesia: Towards a resolution of theambiguities. CIFOR Occasional Paper No.9.Bogor: CIFOR, Indonesia.

Further information:Retno MaryaniMinistry of Forestry Indonesia / Forest andNature Conservation Policy Group,Wageningen UniversityDroevendaalsesteeg 3a, Building 100, 6708 PB WageningenThe Netherlands E-mail: [email protected]


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D E V O L U T I O N O F F O R E S TMANAGEMENT: A CAUTIONARYCASE OF PUKHTUN JIRGAS INDISPUTE SETTLEMENTS (PAKISTAN)

By Sarah Southwold-Llewellyn

In many respects, the legal framework of ajirga has comparable features to thoseproposed for community-based management.It is formed by representatives of differentcommunity factions and is based on the idealof consensus. In our study we examine howthe jirga operates. Two key issues involvingthe jirga's role in forest management are: • The distribution of revenue from

state-controlled commercial felling and• Usufruct rights.

The case will illustrate some of the political,economic, social and cultural pitfalls thatunderlie assumptions about community-basedmanagement schemes.

The case is based on anthropologicalresearch on natural resource managementand livelihoods among a community ofPukhtun agro-pastoralists in the Hindu Kush,whose permanent settlement is at 2 000metres. During the summer, members frommost households move to the alpine pasturesat 2.500 to 3.500 meters.

In addition, we studied the relations betweenthe Pukhtun community and transhumantpastoralists, paying particular attention todisputes over access to forests, alpinepastures and water, the impact of governmentpolicies on the articulation of disputes and therole of plural legal frameworks for disputeresolution. Other research themes includedthe impact of migration on rurally basedlivelihoods, especially with regard toagricultural production, the impact ofstate-controlled forest harvesting onlivelihoods and the sources of power and

influence of women. Research was conductedin Shangla District during the summer monthsof 1991, 1993, and 1994.

Devolution to heterogeneous communitiesThe Provincial Government of the North WestFrontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan ownsall the forests. This has a historical legalprecedent. The area studied had a hereditaryruler until 1969 when the Malakand Divisionbecame a Provincially Administered TribalArea and was incorporated into the NWFP.The consequence was the creation ofadditional tiers to the existing plural legalsystems with regard to the concepts of rightsto the forest and dispute settlement. Since2001, the government of President Musharrafhas introduced radical changes to thestructure of Federal, Provincial and LocalGovernment aimed at devolution. Similardevolution policies are proposed for theForest Department with regard to their role inforest management.

These new policies recognise the needs oflocal stakeholders and the aim ofcommunity-based management schemes.They are not sensitive, however, to theheterogeneity among communities or to howthese new policies will be incorporated intoexisting practices. The purpose of our study isto describe the situation in a Pukhtuncommunity prior to these changes in the hopeof understanding their likely consequences.

Further information:Dr Sarah Southwold-LlewellynRural Development Sociology, Dept. of SocialSciences, Wageningen UniversityP.O. Box 8130 6706 KN Wageningen The NetherlandsE-mail: [email protected]



ENTITLING LOCAL COMMUNITIES INFOREST MANAGEMENT: HASD E C E N T R A L I S E D F O R E S TM A N A G E M E N T A F F E C T E DC H A R C O A L P R O D U C T I O NPRACTICES IN EASTERN SENEGAL?

By Maaike Snel and Johan Post

In accordance with Senegal's decentralisationpolicy, important forest management tasks,including the right to allocate charcoalproduction rights, have been transferred torural councils. We have investigated theimpact of these institutional reforms oncharcoal production practices using theenvironmental entitlement frameworkdeveloped by Leach et al. (1999). The studyclearly showed that decentralisation has notbeen able to alter forest managementpractices at the local level, although officialrights and responsibilities have changed.

The problem of legitimacyThe environmental entitlement approach ofLeach et al. centres on the three concepts ofendowments, entitlements and capabilities.Endowments refer to the rights and resourcesthat social actors have, while entitlements aredefined as 'the alternative set of utilitiesderived from environmental goods andservices over which social actors havelegitimate effective command and which areinstrumental in achieving well-being'.Capabilities then refer to the outcome - in thiscase charcoal or the revenue form the sale ofcharcoal. The rural councils have not beenable to turn their new endowments intoentitlements because they lack sufficientstrength and legitimacy. Rural councils werecreated in the 1970s and 1980s as part of thefirst deconcentration efforts of the Senegalesestate, yet even after extending their formalrights they have never been able to compel(let alone cooperate efficiently with) therespect and legitimacy certain traditional

institutions still enjoy. This has complicatedefficient and effective decentralised forestmanagement, because forest managementrights and responsibilities have beentransferred exclusively to formal institutions.The decentralised structure of forestmanagement moved the spotlight onto aninstitution that is rather marginal in theorganisation of rural society and notdownwardly accountable. As a result, the onlyperson really benefiting from entitlements isthe president of the rural council. His accessto entitlements and their translation intocapabilities (benefits from logging) is basedentirely on his liaison with informal institutions.The Senegalese charcoal production andmarketing is mainly dominated by merchantswho provide access to charcoal markets,labour and capital for cutting wood andturning it into charcoal and by forestry agentswho officially sanction woodcutting and trade.Informal institutions, notably the coalitionbetween merchants, state agents and villagechiefs, continue to run the charcoal businessand are hardly affected by decentralisationefforts. The institutions formally responsible -the rural councils and the forest service - areeasily influenced, overruled or ignored by theinformal institutions.

Stakeholders and power relationshipsDecentralisation has not really affected thepower relationships that underlie thedistribution of entitlements to charcoal. Theclaim of Leach et al. (1999: 238) that'institutional change in society may be a slow,path-dependant process, even if formalinstitutions, such as legal frameworks…change quickly' is certainly true of theSenegalese charcoal production and trade.

Although tensions between pro-exploitationactors and pro-conservation actors areevident, the pro-exploitation actors' firm gripon the informal institutions will probably leadto a prolonged subversion of the laws thatseek to enhance local control and sustain theforest.


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The local community is not homogenous intheir opinion on the charcoal production andtrade: those who benefit economically fromcharcoal production have a different opinionthan peasants who merely suffer the adverseeffects of production. Due to the differentpopular needs and priorities, decentralisationto a genuinely representative institution wouldnot automatically lead to ecologicallysustainable forest management. Even if therural councils were to function as democraticand representative institutions, the outcome oftheir forest management would be uncertain interms of sustainability.

Efforts to improve the record of thedecentralisation policy in terms of moreeffective local control over forest resourcesand more sustainable use of natural resourceshave not too much to build upon. Attempts bysome rural councillors and villagers topersuade the rural council to use its legalpowers to this effect have broken down in theface of opposition by the local establishmentand merchant class (mobilising their politicalfriends in Tambacounda and Dakar). Thisattests to the link between macro andmicro-level developments as mentioned byLeach et al. The impact of the alliancebetween state and capital that characterisesthe overall Senegalese political economymanifests itself at the local level, affectinglocal processes of endowment and entitlementmapping.

ConclusionIn the short run it is unlikely that there will bea marked change for the better . Only througha process of empowerment - probably with acrucial role for NGOs to provide access to vitalinformation and to educate and train people -can one hope that countervailing forces willgradually gain strength and that people willbecome more successful in effectuating theclaims that decentralised forest managementshould provide.

Reference:

Leach, M., Means, R. and Scoones, I. (1999).Environmental entitlements: dynamics andinstitutions in community-based naturalresource management. World Development27(2): 225-247.

Further information:Maaike SnelRapenburgerstraat 163 D1011 VM Amsterdam The NetherlandsE-mail: [email protected]

NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENTAND DECENTRALISATION INSENEGAL:THE DOWN-SIDE OFPARTICIPATION

By Laurence Boutinot

Administrative and political decentralisation isnot new in Africa. It is linked to widespreadstructural adjustment reforms that caused thedisengagement of the states by the end of the1970s. In Senegal, after long delays, theprocess of natural resource managementdecentralisation was accelerated by thepassing of the 1996 decentralisationregulations and the new decentralised forestcodes of 1993 and 1998. Like elsewhere inAfrica, decentralisation is changing relationsamong various actors - public/private andcommunity/individual - in natural resourcemanagement. Since Rio (1992) andJohannesburg (2002), the necessity ofinvolving citizens in all stages and scales ofnatural resource management has beenrecognised. Furthermore, increased localresponsibility is viewed as a way of producingequitable and sustainable development.

Natural resource management anddecentralisationNatural resource management is a powerfullens for understanding the process of



decentralisation. Among all the decentralisedsectors, natural resource management is theonly one that produces financial gains. In thisway, the natural resource managementexperience sheds light on the complex stakesinvolved, the difficulties in implementation andthe dysfunctions of decentralisation.

With a view to throwing light on the nature andeffects of decentralisation we initiated a studyon decentralised forest management inSenegal. We aim to explore whetherdecentralisation in Senegal can be a way toharmonise actions and redistribution ofauthority in natural resource management.More specifically, we aim to:• Clarify the stakeholders and interests

involved;• Map competition in resource access and

control;• Highlight such risks as the entrapment of

people within 'participatory', butnon-representative arrangements andover-regulation through the proliferation oflocal committees.

Further information:Laurence Boutinot Cirad Forêt , 37, Avenue Jean XXIII, BP 6189Dakar Etoile, Dakar, SenegalE-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]

RURAL WOOD MARKETS ANDDECENTRALISATION IN MALI. SOMEISSUES

By Baptiste Hautdidier and Laurence Boutinot

Mali, as a Sahelian country with limited forestcover, could be overlooked in the currentdebates on international forest management.Yet, while its wood harvesting activities barelycontribute to international trade, theyrepresent nearly 90% of its domestic

household energy. This is why - in aglobalised world with multiple povertyalleviation and desertification reductionagendas - Mali is particularly in touch withprocesses of 'localisation' of timber resourcemanagement. In 1991, the dictatorshipoverthrow was strongly backed by ruralpeople. The failure of the forestadministration, with its repressive stanceinherited from colonial times, was particularlyblatant. This urge for reform led the peasantryto adopt the slogan of 'power back to thevillage' (mara ka segi so in Bamanan).

This coincided with the evolution of the ideasof international actors (Bretton-woodsinstitutions, cooperation agencies, think tanksand NGOs) regarding institutional reforms.Thus globalisation met localisation and, whilerelying on new precepts of good governanceand subsidiarity, the donors supported thedevelopment of two broad parallel movestowards decentralisation.

Communes and rural wood marketsThe first move towards decentralisation wasthe creation of a new level of power, thecommune, based on laws and decrees issuedin 1995 and 1996. Yet, although the processwas initiated in 1999 with the election of thelocal councils in a rather consensualambience, the creation of the communescould more or less be regarded as a politicalnon-event until now. Due to a lack of realpower and financial means, their action isstrongly impaired in rural areas when they arenot associated with a development project orreal estate issues. Their role in naturalresource management is theoreticallyimportant, yet hindered by numerousinstitutional resistance: according to a 1996law, the real devolution of forest estate tocommunes still has to take place.

The second move towards decentralisationconsisted of a revision of the country's forestpolicy. Legislation adopted between 1995 and1998 allowed a transfer of the forest


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management responsibility from the State tothe rural communities, with a newly createdinstitution - the rural wood market. Defined bya demarcated forest, a point of sale and a'rural management team' comprising localwoodcutters, the rural wood market can sell apredefined quota of wood and/or charcoalunder the supervision of the NatureConservation services. The system is basedon police control at the entrance of thecountry's main cities. A differential taxationtheoretically ensures a substantial advantageto the rural wood markets.

In reality, the picture is not that flattering, dueto weak control (with efficiency estimated at10%). Most markets fail to differ from the bulkof suppliers. Along the commodity chain, sucha status quo benefits the wrongdoers, rangingfrom urban merchants to corrupt civil servants.Furthermore, the bank account used for thetaxes collected for the markets , which aresupposed to partly benefit the commune, wasrecently blocked.

Nevertheless, nearly 300 rural wood marketshave been established to date, most of themat the instigation of development projects.From 1998 to 2002, the Household EnergyStrategy, a para-governmental agency mainlyfunded by the World Bank and the Dutchgovernment, supervised the process in theheart of the country. Relying onsocio-economic and satellite-based surveys,it planned the potential locations of themarkets around the main cities and oversawtheir setting up by private operators. Based ondifferent approaches, various developmentactors entered into contracts in other parts ofMali: the Swiss Intercooperation near Sikasso,the International Labour Organisation at Kita,and SOS Sahel, CARE and the Near-EastFoundation in the Mopti region.

ResearchThe environmental superiority of the systemhas been rather questionable until now and soare the social, territorial and economic

consequences of transferring managementresponsibility for timber resources. This iswhat a network of social science researchersbased in Mali plans to investigate. Thehypothesis that the reforms have substantialeffects in terms of (i) reshaping of theequilibrium of powers, (ii) the appropriation ofterritories and (iii) the redistribution of thewoodfuel commodity chain incomes, will betested at three embedded scales, namely thesupply basin, the commune and the village.

The woodcutting activity, formerlycaste-reserved and dominated by transitorywage earners, has since been largely spreadthroughout villages surrounding Bamako andother towns. The local harvesters, asubstantial number of whom are women andlandless peasants, are tending to becomeprofessional. The impact of the markets onactors' strategies and incomes may then beimportant, but also subject to swift changes.Are rural wood markets a factor of social andeconomic differentiation (at the inter andintra-household levels)? Was the genderawareness and the pro-poor stance of themarkets' spirit a success or have globalinequalities and struggles simply beentranslated to the village scale?

ChangesThe rural management team of woodcutters,as an institution governing the access to bushareas and contributing to its members'welfare, has been a factor of change in localarenas. It triggered deep modifications oftenure rights over village lands and internalpower struggles that both eventually led toconflicts. The question is how power relationsand social networks are built through theharvesting of a resource and the appropriationof a territory. What are the links betweenthose new powers and the traditional ones?What is the new constellation of resourceaccess and use that result from thoseinteractions?

Considering the current ineffectiveness of the



commune as an institution dedicated tonatural resources management, the studies(based on the fields of social changeanthropology, geography and economics) willtake into account the possible functions ofdevelopment projects, communes, merchants,hauliers and state representatives in aprospective view.

The aim is to reduce the conceptualinconsistencies between the ongoingprocesses of political decentralisation andliberalisation of the forest sector byaccompanying the Malian society towards:• better sharing of powers between State,

communes, villages and the privatesector;

• fair access to territories and a viable useof their resources; and

• rebalancing of economic incomes derivedfrom the harvesting of the commonresource.

Further information:Baptiste HautdidierCIRADBP 1813,Immeuble Ibrahim,Quartier Niaréla MaliBamakoMaliE-mail: [email protected]

IX A LEARNING PERSPECTIVE ONPARTNERSHIPS IN COLLABORATIVEFOREST MANAGEMENT

Collaborative forest managementapproaches develop in response tobroader change processes in society,when the roles and responsibilities ofgroups and organisations dealing withnatural resource management arereviewed and questioned. The increasedinvolvement and interactions ofparticipants from different levels(national, regional and local) is increasingdiversity among stakeholders and theirinterests. The involvement of various(community) groups and organisations,each with their own agenda and interests,imposes special requirements on workprocesses to ensure durable agreementsand solutions. Active monitoring andfeedback on results need to beaccompanied by learning processesamong stakeholders and groups, theso-called social or collaborative learningperspective. This process requiresparticipants to develop an appreciation ofother stakeholders' interests andperceptions, as well as an awareness oftheir own 'mental models'. Thecomplexity of such process managementrequires special attention, as well asflexibility to adjust to the inherentuncertainty and diversity in managing thenatural resources. The followingcontributions explore the potential ofsocial learning methods for enhancingpartnerships at the local and regionallevel. This is particularly important whenconsider ing sustainable forestmanagement in conditions wherepoverty, land degradation and loss ofbiodiversity are in a vicious spiral.


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S Learning in adaptive collaborativemanagement of community forests:lessons from Indonesia (Yurdi Yasmi andYanti Kusumanto)

S Public participation in community forestrypolicy in Thailand. The influence ofacademics as brokers (Sacha Zurcher)

S Influencing the international forest policy:the role of collaborative research (PurabiBose)

S An experiment relating to the participationby and partnerships between people in atiger reserve in India (S. John Joseph)

S The dilemma of 21st century forestmanagement in Papua New Guinea (RuthC.H. Turia)

S Faci l i tat ing col laborat ion andpartnerships: lessons from adaptivecollaborative management in thePhilippines (Herlina Hartanto)

L E A R N I N G I N A D A P T I V ECOLLABORATIVE MANAGEMENT OFCOMMUNITY FORESTS: LESSONSFROM INDONESIA

By Yurdi Yasmi and Yanti Kusumanto

Problems and issues related to forestmanagement are undeniably complex.Different stakeholders have different viewsabout forest objectives and needs as a resultof differences in rationales and mentalmodels. Furthermore, the context ofdecision-making on forest issues is also highlycomplicated due to differing, even directlyconflicting, objectives, changing social,economic and political conditions andchanging policy. Conflict is therefore a keyconcept in co-management (Yasmi, 2003).Due to the complexity and the continuing stateof change, not only in social but alsoecological environments, forest managemententails considerable risks and uncertainties. It

is in this context that many community forestmanagers face the challenge of trying toimplement or achieve sustainablemanagement while addressing livelihoodneeds. In this situation, adaptive learning andcollaborative decision-making processes arerequired that provide opportunities fornegotiat ion. Adaptive collaborativemanagement (ACM) attempts to combinethese elements into a conscious andintentional approach (Prabhu, 2002).

CIFOR and its partners undertook ACMresearch between 1999 and 2002 inIndonesia, Nepal and the Philippines as partof an ACM-wide initiative in Asia covering atotal of eight sites. This paper provides a briefoverview of the key concepts of ACM andhow learning has been used as the basis forplanning and decision-making. Learning as itis referred to here emphasises the shared andapplied nature of learning rather than thebuilding or transfer of individual knowledge orskills (e.g. through training) (McDougall et al.,2003).

ACM in IndonesiaThe context in which ACM research wasimplemented in Indonesia is the chaoticenvironment concerning decision-makingabout forest management and forestgovernance at all levels (national, district andlocal). The main focus of ACM activities wasto work towards improving the capacity oflocal institutions to engage in collaborationand negotiation with outside agencies indecision-making (Prabhu, 2002).

ACM research in Indonesia was conducted intwo sites:1. Baru Pelepat Village, Bungo District,Jambi Province, Sumatra2. Rantau Layung and Rantau Buta Village,Pasir District, East Kalimantan Province,Kalimantan

In Pasir, dialogue has been a key platform forlearning. Continuous dialogue and



negotiations among stakeholders aimed atexploring problems and finding solutions wasthe key to learning. Initially, ACM researchersinitiated the dialogue and broughtstakeholders together in a forum in which theydiscussed their problems. Along the way, trustdeveloped between them, as a result of whichit became easier to share views and ideas andbe more open. One issue that they addressedwas degraded lands around communitysettlement.

Based on continuous dialogue, it was jointlyagreed that degraded lands were to berehabilitated with local fruits. Roles andresponsibilities were identified based ondiscussion and consultation that occurredduring several meetings. Finally, the actorsinvolved successfully identified who was goingto do what. The District Forest Serviceprovided seedlings and the local communitywas then responsible for planting and takingcare of them. The local community formedseveral groups and each group worked in aparticular area. Meanwhile, the role of ACMresearchers was mainly to function asfacilitators. After the ACM group concluded itsresearch in Pasir, the activity continued and isnow being coordinated by the District ForestryService.

Social learningIn Baru Pelepat, various aspects of sociallearning have been identified. Knowledgeconstruction and group consolidation wereevident throughout the Participatory ActionResearch (PAR) cycle, in which collectiveprocesses were prominent. The knowledgeacquired throughout the PAR cycle has led tothe build-up of collective knowledge of thegroup with regard to village boundaries andrelated matters, such as policies. Theknowledge has been used as the basis foraction or learning with other groups (i.e. otherstakeholders groups).

Previously, Baru Pelepat interacted on only asmall scale with its neighbouring communities.

This explains why the Baru Pelepatcommunity seemed to be somewhat isolated.Through the PAR cycle they communicatedwith neighbouring communities and as ar e s u l t o f c o m m u n i c a t i o n a n drelationship-building the following outcomesemerged:• A stronger sense of identity within each of

the groups• Increased trust and respect across the

different groups• Recognition of interdependence among

the groups

Another important aspect of social learning inJambi is knowledge sharing. Similar to thePasir case, meetings and dialogue have beenused as a platform for knowledge sharingbetween groups. This led to the generation ofskills and knowledge on negotiation,consolidation, conflict management andleadership. Knowledge was shared about theirown adat norms and values, as well as onphysical matters related to village boundaries.

The desire for clear village boundaries wasone of the motivations for learning andcollaboration. It was evident that localcommunities were confronted with the factthat limited resource availability creates ademand for clear and respected boundaries.This was considered important to avoid futureconflict among communities. Learningapparently adapted over time from 'simple' tomore 'complex' forms (e.g. from comparingown perceptions with those of others,revisiting assumptions and looking for ways oflearning). These processes were notfacilitated but were developed in a naturalway.

We conclude that ACM provides goodopportunities for learning, not only for grouplearning but cross-group learning as well.ACM values learning as a base for planningand monitoring.

References:


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McDougall, C. and Prabhu, R. with Macoun,P. and Hartanto, H. (2003). Adaptivecollaborative management of communityforestry: experiences in Nepal, Indonesia andthe Philippines. Paper submitted to WFC,Canada.Kusumanto, Y., Hakim, H., Yuliani, Y.,Indriatmoko, Y. and Adnan, H. (2002).Indonesia country report. CIFOR, Bogor.Prabhu, R. (2002). Planning for sustainabilityof forests through adaptive co-management.Summary of volume 1-4 page 1-11. Projectreport submitted to ADB.Yasmi, Y. (2003). Understanding conflict inthe co-management of forests: the case ofBulungan Research Forest. InternationalForestry Review 5(1): 38-44.

Further information:Yurdi YasmiCenter for International Forestry Research(CIFOR)P.O. Box 6596 JKPWB Jakarta 10065 IndonesiaE-mail: [email protected]

P U B L I C P A R T I C I P A T I O N I NCOMMUNITY FOREST POLICY INTHAILAND: THE INFLUENCE OFACADEMICS AS BROKERS

By Sacha Zurcher

This study focuses on the role of networks inenhancing public participation in communityforestry policy in Thailand. It analyses howconflicts between the state and local peopleover the right to manage forest resources areno longer regarded as isolated incidents butas part of a structural shortcoming in the lawwhich has to be dealt with nationally. In sodoing, we discuss the appearance of networksof actors who question the effectiveness of

state control and lobby for formal frameworksto establish the rights of local people withregard to access and control over forestresources. We also address the matter of howthe different actors became involved and whattheir influence was in the process of draftingand presenting a peoples' version of acommunity forest bill to Parliament in 2000.

OutcomeThe results of this study show that conflictsover access rights to forest resources at locallevel would not have had widespread nationalattention were it not for a group of academicswho supported the idea of local management.They became actively involved in drafting thecommunity forest bill and succeeded in raisinga previously local issue to national level byusing the press to publicise their academicachievements. Academics, non-governmentalorganisations and people organisationsstrategically allied themselves with thoseactors within the state apparatus who sharedthe same opinion. In so doing, they attemptedto acquire a broader base of support forlegalising the community forestry bill.

Further information:Sacha ZurcherDepartment of Geography and InternationalDevelopment Studies, Roskilde University,Building 08.1P.O. Box 260 DK-4000 Roskilde DenmarkE-mail: [email protected]



INFLUENCING THE INTERNATIONALFOREST POLICY: THE ROLE OFCOLLABORATIVE RESEARCH

By Purabi Bose

'Does research in collaboration with partnershas any impact on shaping global forestpolicy?' is a question being asked more andmore frequently. Often, the challenges facedby most academic research institutions whileworking with partners and trying to measureimpacts are related to:• interpreting the impact of research

partnership, which is made difficult by thefact that different stakeholders interpret'impact' in different ways.

• obstacles to implementation whenworking with 'partners'.

• This paper will deal with theabove-mentioned challenges and willaddress the following questions related topartnerships in adaptive collaborativemanagement plans:

• What role is there for research? • What is needed to facilitate the learning

perspective in terms of the institutionalenv i r onmen t , l eade rsh ip andorganisational change?

• What is the potential for research tocontribute to improved livelihoods andsustainable forest management?

As far as the Center for International ForestryResearch (CIFOR) is concerned, researchingcollaboration with partners remains the key tosuccess with regard to influencing majorglobal policy issues - forests and people - andpublic opinion. The purpose of this paper is topresent CIFOR's decade-long learningexperience, process and strategy of working inclose alliance with its partners.

The paper begins by exploring CIFOR'sstrategic relationship with regard to scienceinitiatives undertaken with local communities,

civil societies, academic and researchinstitutes, governments, donors and policymakers. It then goes on to sketch out hownetworking, capacity building, bridgingvaluable links and acting as an intermediaryamong partners intersecting the global,national and local levels have had an impacton forest policy. Briefly, it illustrates howinternational institutes such as the WorldBank, FAO, GEF/CBD, WRI, UNFF andITTO, among other organisations, are utilisingCIFOR's research and network studies forprioritising and disseminating purposes viatheir policy documents. These major institutesoften provide support in the form of technicaladvice as well as financial investments inforest activities on behalf of governments,NGOs and academics. Thirdly, the paperaddresses the achievements of CIFOR andits partners in assisting institutions andindividuals from developing countries throughits collaborative research approach.

The study corroborates other findings that'partnership' research on forests and peopleis successful thanks to strong, strategic,shared leadership that purposely seeks tocreate a collaborative advantage. It alsoseeks to confirm that collaborative researchhas a higher level of mutual accountabilityand a shared vision with a sense of purpose.Findings primarily suggest that collaborationresearch yields a greater utility value throughthe dissemination and implementation ofresearch outputs.

The study concludes that:: • partnerships can be best understood as

a social instrument that can enhancepolicy effectiveness;

• although collaborative research is a slowprocess, its findings can influence majordecision-making;

• collaborative research plays a crucial rolein establishing networks and therebywider dissemination.

Finally, we conclude that, while the impact of


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research on policies changes over a period oftime, one thing that remains constant is thevalue of partnership.

Note:This impact adoption study (2003) is currentlyunder process. It focuses on views of CIFOR'spartners and CIFOR's ten long years ofexperience in collaborative forest (policy)research.

Further information:Purabi BoseCenter for International Forestry Research(CIFOR)P.O. Box 6596, JKPWB Jakarta 10065,IndonesiaE-mail: [email protected]

AN EXPERIMENT RELATING TO THEP A R T I C I P A T I O N B Y A N DPARTNERSHIPS BETWEEN PEOPLEIN A TIGER RESERVE IN INDIA

By S. John Joseph

The World Bank launched an experimentrelating to participation by and partnershipsbetween people under an internationalinitiative termed FREEP (Forestry Researchand Education Extension Project) on thepremise that forest protection andmanagement are increasingly the product ofnegotiation, partnership and joint action bygovernment, NGOs, research organisationsand forest-dependent communities andpeople on a realistic multi-stakeholders basis.

The Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve(KMTR) is the 17th Tiger Reserve establishedin the Western Ghats of India. Its vast array ofbiodiversity and the threat it faces has earnedit the label of biodiversity hotspot. From theKMTR boundary, a 5 km-wide belt was

identified as the eco-development projectzone, which covers 46,000 ha consisting of 42revenue villages and 163 hamlets. This vastwilderness was becoming increasingly difficultto protect against the numerous surroundingvillages and their forest dependentinhabitants, particularly with an understaffedand under-equipped Forest Department.

The forested area of the KMTR forms thecatchment of the hydrological system of thearea, charging the 14 rivers and streams andsix reservoirs that are located in the KMTR.This watershed provides drinking andirrigation water to all the communities living inthe villages besides meeting their livelihoodneeds from the forest resources..Eco-development concept and evolutionT h e p r o j e c t d o c u m e n t d e f i n e sEco-Development as '….. a strategy forprotecting ecologically valuable areas fromunsustainable or otherwise unacceptablepressures resulting from the needs andactivities of people living in and around suchareas.' In pursuance of this definition, theactivities envisaged initially were: 1. To educate and motivate the local peopleregarding the values and needs ofconservation and to involve them in the same.2. To reduce the negative impact of localpeople on biodiversity as well as that ofprotected areas on people's livelihoods andalso to increase collaboration of local peoplein conservation efforts.3. To develop a more effective base andex tens i ve suppo r t s ys tems f o reco-development activities, thereby improvingthe quality and capacity of protected areasmanagement for conservation of biodiversity.4. To provide opportunities for localpartnership and participation in protected areamanagement, activities and decisions.5. To develop and ensure eco-friendlylivelihood activities for forest-dependentpeople for their sustainable livelihood.

The Eco-Development team comprised



employees from the Forest Department whowere totally divorced from their regularterritorial policing duties, but had receivedhigh motivational training in securing peoples'participation.

To bring about a radical change inapproaches and ensure people's activeparticipation, Village Forest Committees(VFCs) were set up in the villages andhamlets. These had 100 to 300 members. TheNGOs became instrumental in bridging thegap between the Forest Department andvillagers and in bringing about a total changein the mind-set of the villagers. VFCs wereformed in 113 villages and hamlets involvingmore than 13,000 families in theirinterventions. They were identified at thestage of preparation of the Micro plan, astrategic local level plan of operations evolvedfor the purpose of solving the problems ofindividual villages. The Micro plan had threemajor components: 1. Alternative income generation schemes2. Biomass production/increase3. Energy conservation measures

Project implementation included rapportbui ld ing, awareness programmes,participatory rural appraisal and the formationof VFCs.

Awareness programmes in the form oftraditional folk theatre and street plays wereplanned simultaneously and the task wasassigned to the Arumbugal Trust, an NGOfrom Tirunelveli. This NGO with other NGOsoperating locally made a deep impact on theminds of local people thanks to theiracceptability to local people and the effectiveuse of traditional media to mould the thoughtsand attitudes of people and rekindle thedormant conservation ethos.

Positive project impacts The Eco-Development Project has broughtabout a drastic change in the lives of thevillagers and has improved their livelihood

security. More than 2.000 woodcutters whowere dependent on the forest for theirlivelihood have changed to alternateoccupations. Grazing within the KMTR hasbeen reduced by more than 50%.

A high percentage of loan recoveries havebeen recorded, enabling the VFCs to provideassistance to 500 additional forestdependents. Various self-help groups, expertgroups and village community funds haveemerged to cope with new challenges ofmicro plan implementation. Most of them arenow endowed with sustainable livelihoods.

The project has increased the confidence ofthe local people, converted erstwhilehostilities into camaraderie and forged acollaborative social bond between the ForestDepartment, NGOs and participating villagersto conserve the biodiversity in the KMTR andimprove the grassroots economy.

Lessons learnt It has clearly been demonstrated that it isessential that the NGOs need to mediateeffectively between the villagers and theForest Department. It also became clear thatNGOs are required in order to secure theparticipation of women and to developorganisational and financial skills within theVFCs. The project made it clear that goodpersonal relations are crucial - this requiresgetting close to the villagers and making themfeel that there was no distance or differencebetween the project implementers andthemselves.

The project also showed that while policingand the use of force may have an immediaterestraining effect, they will only be temporaryand counterproductive and will generatedislike, rancour and vindictiveness.

This effective interactive approach has meantthat people have switched from a practice ofdestruction and degradation of theenvironment to one of understanding,


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appreciation and promotion of objectives ofsanctuary protection and management,anchored on their livelihood securitymediation. The local grass-level NGOs joinedtogether in this unique and innovativeexperiment and contributed to its successfulacceptance and responses.

The lessons drawn and learnt and theconditions for effective multi-scale partnershiphave been used by World Bank to design andevolve refined and upgraded projects in sevenother sites in India to meet forest-relatedlivelihood and poverty alleviation challengeswhile embarking on a conservation andsustainable forest management programme.

Further information:Dr S. John Joseph M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation3rd Cross, Taramani Complex Chennai - 600113 IndiaE-mail: [email protected]

THE DILEMMA OF 21ST CENTURYFOREST MANAGEMENT IN PAPUANEW GUINEA

By Ruth C.H. Turia

Concerns about tax evasion, transfer pricingand the abuse of both people and the forestsof Papua New Guinea by the mainlyforeign-owned logging companies operating inthe country led the Papua New GuineaGovernment to establish a Commission ofInquiry into Aspects of the Forestry Industry in1987. The inquiry confirmed and documentedmany of these concerns (Barnett, 1989). Atthe same time, the Papua New Guineagovernment went out of its way to seekinternational assistance under the auspices ofthe Tropical Forestry Action Plan (TFAP). A

TFAP mission visited Papua New Guineaunder the leadership of the World Bank toassess and put together proposals for action.This led to major reform processes beingimplemented in the early 1990s to try and putsome order in the management of thecountry's forest resources. After more thanten years many authors (Poore and Chiew,2000; World Bank, 2000; Montagu, 2001;2002) suggest that Papua New Guinea stillfaces problems with the management of itsforests.The research question under discussion ishow Papua New Guinea can move forwardwith the management of its forests. A specificproject will analyse the problems andchallenges that the Papua New Guineagovernment is facing.

The Sagarai Gadaisu timber areaA 'timber rights' agreement over this area wasentered into between the customarylandowners and the administration of PapuaNew Guinea (then under Australia) in July1966 and is valid until June 2006 (a 40 yearterm). The area came about in 1981 underthe concept of the Forestry DevelopmentCorporation (FDC) which was envisioned inthe then 1979 forestry policy of the PapuaNew Guinea government to meet one of thepolicy objectives of 'a greater directparticipation of Papua New Guineans in thetimber industry'. The preliminary findings ofthis project are that the land owners ofSagarai Gadaisu did not hold any shares inthe original company and were therefore notinvolved at all in its day-to-day operations. In1993, the customary landowners establishedtheir own holding company with the aim ofdeveloping and managing the timber projectthemselves. Again this was not put intoaction, firstly because the landowner companydid not have the finance to pay off thecreditors of the former company and partlybecause they did not have the managementknowledge to run a timber business. Much ofthe flat land within the timber project area isdominated by oil palm trees and there is no



scope for the management of the forest areaunder a sustained yield principle (Milne BayProvincial Forest Office - 2001 AnnualReport). The Papua New Guinea forestryagency has to date established about 1,700hectares of this total timber project area withpatches of small plantations of mainlyEucalytpus deglupta (commonly known inPapua New Guinea as kamarere). This is onlyabout 1% of the total forest area that wasacquired by the government.

ConclusionAt one extreme, a New Zealand-ownedcompany was engaged to manage the timberproject. They were only operational for aboutfour years and then went into receivership.The main reason for this was the claim thatthere were insufficient forest resourcesavailable in the forest area to sustain thecompany's requirements. This again calls intoquestion the management capability of theforeign company.At the other extreme, the Milne Bay ProvincialGovernment was given the taskof looking afterthe interests of the traditional landowners fromthe timber area. It was clear that thelandowners did not have the financialresources to buy off shares in the companyand so the Provincial Government held someshares in trust on behalf of the land owners.However, it made no effort to transfer or cometo some arrangement by which thelandowners could buy off shares in thecompany. The Provincial Government isbelieved to hold 75% shares in the timberproject.

Sadly for this project and the landowners inparticular, the natural forests will be replacedwith oil palm trees and other secondaryregrowth that are not that beneficial for atimber industry. This suggests that sustainableforest management is not taking place in thisparticular timber area and that, in turn, haswider implications for forest managementthroughout Papua New Guinea.

References:Barnett, T.E. (1989). Commission of inquiryinto aspects of the forestry industry: FinalReport, Vol. 1, Port Moresby.Montagu, S.A. (2001). Reforming forestplanning and management in Papua NewGuinea, 1991-94: losing people in theprocess. Journal of Environmental Planningand Management, 44(5): 649-662.Montagu, S.A. (2002). Forest planning andmanagement in Papua New Guinea, 1884 to1995: a political ecological analysis. PlanningPerspectives 17: 21-40.Poore, D. and Chiew, T.H. (2000). Review ofprogress towards the Year 2000 Objective.ITTO.World Bank (2000). Project appraisaldocument on forestry and conservationproject, Report No. 20641-PG.

Further information:Ruth C.H. TuriaHuman Geography Department, ResearchSchool of Pacific and Asian Studies,Australian National University Canberra, ACT, 0200AustraliaE-mail: [email protected]

FACILITATING COLLABORATION ANDPARTNERSHIPS: LESSONS FROMA D A P T I V E C OLLA B O R A T I V EMANAGEMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES

By Herlina Hartanto

Community forestry has a long history in thePhilippines. It began as early as in the 1970s,when the government started apeople-oriented forestry initiative in thecountry. Three decades of experience haveled to the creation of a flagship programmecalled Community-Based Forest Management(CBFM) in 1995. CBFM puts local


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communities at the heart of CBFMmanagement as stated in its slogan: 'Peoplefirst, then sustainable forests will follow'. ThePhilippines also has an impressive record withregard to decentralisation. The 1991 LocalGovernment Code authorises localgovernment units to take part in implementingsocial forestry and reforestation programmes,managing communal forests less than 5,000hectares, protecting watersheds and enforcingforest laws.

Nevertheless, devolution and decentralisationalso create complexity and confusion. Withauthorities, rights and responsibilities beingshared among various government agenciesand communities, a greater number of'groups' emerged with different andsometimes conflicting interests, objectives,mandates and values. Furthermore,devolution and decentralisation are oftenconditional and partial, with control still beingretained by the Department of Environmentand Natural Resources (DENR), which isresponsible for overseeing CBFM in thePhilippines. The situation is furtherexacerbated by a lack of communication andinformation flow, a lack of institutionalmechanisms for engaging in partnerships anda lack of trust among the stakeholders. As aresult of all these constraints, there are fewgenuine partnerships among and betweenPeople's Organisations, DENR and LocalGovernment Units.

ACM approach and processesIn the midst of these institutional andmanagement complexities we carried out aresearch project on Adaptive CollaborativeManagement (ACM) in two CBFM sites in thePhilippines. One site was located in Bukidnonprovince (Mindanao) and the other one was inPalawan province (Luzon). Similar researchprojects are underway in other countries inAsia, Africa, and Latin America. The ACMapproach, which focuses on social learning,communication and collective action amongdiverse stakeholders, was used to facilitate

collaboration and learning among thePeople's Organisations (PO), DENR andother local stakeholders in the Philippines.

In order to strengthen collaboration andpartnerships in action and learning, and usingparticipatory action research as the mainresearch methodology, we facilitated the useof the following ACM approach and processesin the two sites:• Effective participatory stakeholder

identification processes and deliberateconscious efforts of engagement amongthese different stakeholders based ontrust, common interests and objectives.Analysis of their mandates, interests,strengths and weaknesses allowedrelated institutions to identify areas thatneed collaborative efforts, and how theirresources and capacities can be usedmore effectively, so that they can worktogether with mutual understanding andrespects.

• Enhanced information sharing andcommunication horizontally (internallywithin the members of their PO andexternally with other organisations andinstitutions), and vertically (to policymakers).

• Formation of different platforms that bringdifferent stakeholders together forinformation sharing, the discussion ofchallenges and negotiations, conflictresolution, and to learn jointly fromexperience.

• Strengthening the skills, capacities,awareness, behaviour and attitude thatwould allow the PO and localstakeholders to engage effectively inpartnerships.

OutcomesOur three years of work on ACMimplementation revealed improvements inhuman and social capital, as shown below,that indicate increased collaboration andpartnerships in action and learning within andacross stakeholders:



• Increased joint action by PO members (inestablishing nurseries, herb gardens,newsletter production and proposalmaking) and across different stakeholders(controlling illegal activities, resolvingboundary dispute, developing localmonitoring system and exploringlivelihood options for the PO).

• Increased communication and feedbackprovided by the PO to policy makers,identifying policies that hinder effectiveC B F M i m p l e m e n t a t i o n a n drecommending alternatives.

• Increased level of trust between the POand key government institutions, whichlead to increased transparency andincreased resource sharing.

• Increased participation and support fromvarious government institutions to the POin implementing CBFM.

• More active PO and community membersand more functional committeesparticipating in forest resourcemanagement.

• More democratic decision-making andplanning processes that engaged morePO members, different community groupsand other key stakeholders.

• Improved skills of several PO members inproper documentation, expressing andcommunicating their views and opinions,effectively using different mechanisms forinformation sharing (billboards, bulletinboards, newsletters, radio programmes,different forums) so that informationreached the intended target audiencethrough different channels.

• Improved capacities of the PO to link upwith various government institutions andNGOs who have the skills, knowledgeand financial resources to assist them.

• PO members reflected on their actionsand experience in a more structured andconscious way, based on observationsand monitoring and adjusted theirmanagement strategies accordingly.

ConditionsOur study also revealed that facilitatingcollaboration and partnerships in amulti-stakeholder situation would only beeffective if:• the process is facilitated by someone who

is perceived to be relatively 'neutral' andcan gain the confidence of relatedstakeholders;

• there is a willingness of the stakeholdersto discuss, negotiate and work togethertowards common goals;

• the level of skills, capacities, confidenceand awareness of local people to reachout and reach up to their members andother stakeholders is sufficient.

While is it too early to know the long-termoutcomes of the ACM approach, results fromthe two sites in the Philippines and other ACMsites all over the world indicated that ACM isa potentially useful approach to enhancingcollaboration and learning in the managementof community forests.

Further information:Herlina HartantoCenter for International Forestry Research(CIFOR)P.O. Box 6596, JKPWB, Jakarta 10065,IndonesiaE-mail: [email protected]

Research Cooperation Sought

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BOTANY ONLINETHE "AUBLET2 " FRENCH GUYANADATA BASE ONLINE

The Guyana Herbarium is placing itsAUBLET2 database collections on line.AUBLET2 contains standardised informationon herbarium specimens collected on theplateaux of the Guianas, especially FrenchGuyana, and stored in the Guyana Herbarium(CAY).

For more information:http://www.cayenne.ird.fr/aublet2/

CULTURED TREES:TRANSFORMATIONS INAGROFORESTRY SYSTEMS

Diane Russell from ICRAF and StefanieKlappa are organising a panel on agroforestrysystems at the Ninth International Congress ofthe International Society for Ethnobotany to beheld in Kent, United Kingdom next year. Theywelcome ideas for contributions.

Agroforestry is the cultivation and nurturing oftrees on farms and in landscapes. On the onehand, it is central to some ancient forms ofland use. On the other, it is a key element ofscientific approaches to integrated naturalresource management. The former, oftentermed indigenous agroforestry, and the latter,labeled as scientific agroforestry, both featuretrees as essential components. Both combinetypically a high degree of vegetal cover withhigh utility for humans, which makes themprime candidates for Conservation andDevelopment approaches. Both tend to differ,though, in terms of their underlying principles;indigenous agroforestry itself forms a highlyheterogeneous category. Both indigenous andscientific agroforestry are experiencingtransformations, sometimes indeed through

transfer of knowledge and technologybetween each other. Apprehending thecharacteristics of the various forms ofagroforestry, the dynamics of theirtransformations, and the socio-economic andenvironmental effects of change is crucial forassessing their potential to contribute tosustainable development and biodiversityconservation in the present and future.Anthropologists, human ecologists, humangeographers, and ethnobotanists have beeninstrumental in identifying indigenousagroforestry systems, the principles thatgovern them and the way they are changing inthe modern world. Anthropological studieshave also looked at the consequences ofintroduction of certain agroforestry practiceswithin government and NGO projects.Conversely, they have provided informationabout locally established agroforestrypractices for the enhancement of suchprojects. The tentative papers in this sessionprovide a wealth of ethnographic insight intotransformations of agroforestry systems. Thegeographic range of cases spans Amazonia,middle and north America, central and eastAfrica, and New Guinea. The thematic rangereaches from adaptations of ancientagroforestry systems to meet the marketeconomy to the evolution of systems withinthe context of ?modern? concepts ofagroforestry. Examples of enduring systemsare presented, which lead to anunderstanding of management principles thatcan inform scientists and policymakersworking in agroforestry. Emerging issues suchas carbon trading, niche markets, the role ofnon-timber forest products, agroforestryaround protected areas, and the verydefinition of agroforestry systems areaddressed. The session highlights theimportance of a holistic approachincorporating cultural and historic aspects inunderstanding and ?improving? agroforestrysystems. Contributions to this session are sofar provisional and we encourage those withsuggestions pertinent to our theme to get in

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contact.

For more information please see theconference website: http://www.kent.ac.uk/anthropology/ice2004/

Stefanie Klappacand. PhD Environmental AnthropologyDepartment of Anthropology, Eliot ExtensionUniversity of Kent at CanterburyCT2 7NS, G.B.Email: [email protected]: +44 - (0)1227 - 827935Fax: +44 - (0)1227 - 827289

QUERY ON VANILLA GROWING ANDBIODIVERSITY

Charlotte Stanton writes: I am withConservation International's ConservationEnterprise Department and am looking into the

benefits to biodiversity of vanilla growing for asmall-enterprise project.

Do you know of any relevant studies onvanilla and biodiversity? If not, can yousuggest a person or organization that mayknow of such studies?

Many thanks in advance,

Charlotte Stanton

Charlotte StantonConservation Enterprise DepartmentConservation International1919 M Street NW, Suite 600Washington DC 20036tel. (direct) 202 912 1430e.mail. [email protected]. 202 912 0765

Internet Features


By Jelle Maas

A previous ETFRN News (No. 35;www.etfrn.org/etfrn/newsletter/news35/index.html) dealt with Innovative FinancingMechanisms for Conservation andSustainable Forest Management. Like thepresent Newsletter it provided backgroundinformation for an international meeting. Theresults of that seminar (held March 2002 inThe Hague) are available online atwww.tropenbos.org/files/proc_ifm.htm. There isalso a fact sheet summarizing the mainrecommendations of the seminar, which werepresented during CoP-6 of the Convention onBiological Diversity (UNCBD, www.biodiv.org),A p r i l 2 0 0 2 i n T h e H a g u ewww.tropenbos.org/publications/FactSheets/FactSheet001newupweb.pdf.

The Society for International Development(SID) (http://www.sidint.org/index.htm) hassome interesting international programmes,such as ‘conflicts over access to naturalresources’.

The Sustainable Tree Crops Program(STCP), at the International Institute ofTropical agriculture (IITA), is a public-privatepartnership between industry, producers,researchers, government agencies, publicsector institutions and conservation groupsaiming to improve the economic and socialwell-being of smallholders and theenvironmental sustainability of tree crop farms( h t t p : / / w w w . t r e e c r o p s . o r g / h t m o rhttp://152.61.128.58/ .

Canadian experience on certification andcommercial extraction of Non-Tree ForestProducts (NTFP) is accessible athttp://www.island.net/~ntfp/index.html,and internat ional exper iences at

http://www.fallsbrookcentre.ca/.The Fair Trade Federation and FAO are alsoinvolved in the discussion;www.fairtradefederation.com/n_cert.html;www.fao.org/docrep/x5593e/x5593e00.htm.Also see the publication by Guillén, Laird,Shanley and Pierce ‘tapping the greenmarket’ (Earthscan 2002) in the publicationssection.

An Action Plan to combat illegal loggingand the trade in illegal timber(http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/flegt/intro/ip03_718.htm) was adopted by theEuropean Commission in May 2003. Information on the Asia Pacific Task Force onF o r e s t L a w E n f o r c e m e n t a n dGovernance(FLEG)is on the IISD site:www.iisd.ca/sd/sdfle/sdvol60num1.html. ITTOalso launched a project to combat illegallogging www.itto.or.jp/inside/archived/illegal_06.html.

The goal of a nationwide communityforestry network in China established in1992, the Forestry and Society Network, is tocollect, disseminate and exchangeinformation on experiences and methods ofcommunity forestry. The English version ofthe Network website is now available:http://www.cfnetwork.com.cn.

The Australian Mekong Resource Centre(AMRC) at the University of Sydney aims tosupport development paths that maintain theintegrity, diversity and symbiosis of locallivelihoods, cultures and ecosystems byfostering a deeper and wider understandingof contemporary changes in the Mekongregion:www.mekong.es.usyd.edu.au/publications/index.htm .

Funding

ETFRN News 37/02124

FUNDING FOR SUSTAINABLE FORESTMANAGEMENT

Welcome to the Collaborative Partnership onForests (CPF) (www.fao.org/forestry/cpf)electronic Sourcebook on Funding SustainableForest Management (SFM).

The objective of the Sourcebook is to identifyand collate information on sources of funds,the funding policies and delivery mechanismsof donor countries, international organisations,development banks, private sector entities andother relevant groups, in support ofsustainable forest management in developingcountries.

The Sourcebook seeks to act as both a brokerbetween the supply and demand sides offunding programmes and as a catalyst inmobilising new financial resources anddeveloping new partnerships for SFM.

The Sourcebook has been developed by theCPF with technical assistance of FAO and incollaboration with the National ForestProgramme Facility. Http://www.fao.org/forestry/foris/webview/cpf/index.jsp?geoId=0&langId=1&siteId=2225

CTFS RESEARCH GRANTSPROGRAM: FUNDING SCIENTISTSTHROUGHOUT THE TROPICS

The CTFS Research Grants Program recentlycompleted its first two rounds of awardannouncements in November 2003 and April2003. During these grant cycles, CTFSreceived 68 grant proposals. In total, $1 millionwas requested, and out of this pool, 21proposals were selected for full or partialfinding for a total of over $200,000.

The CTFS Research Grants Program is opento all researchers - from graduate students tosenior scientists - for projects three months tothree years in length. This program, designedto catalyze research linked to the CTFSnetwork of Forest Dynamics Plots, providesopportunities for scientists and students towork in or with data form one or more of theForest Dynamics Plot. One of the objectivesof this program is to attract and supportscientists form across the globe, especiallycountries where the CTFS plots are located.

The next two deadlines for applications areAugust 29, 2003 and February 27, 2004/

For more information please visit:http://www.ctfs.si.edu/

The CTFS Research Grants Program is madepossible through the generous financialsupport from the Celerity Foundation at thePeninsula Community Foundation.

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A VEGETATION MAP OF SOUTHAMERICA

By H.D.Eva1, E.E. de Miranda2, C.M. Di Bella3,V.Gond4 et al.

The Land Cover map of South America for theyear 2000 presented here offers acombination of spatial and thematic detailpreviously unavailable. The map uses datafrom microwave and optical sensors on EarthObserving satellites to map South America’sland cover into more than 40 classes at aspatial resolution of 1 km. Mapping to theselevels of detail has only been possible becauseof recent advances in Earth Observing satellitetechnology andbecause of the involvement of scientists fromSouth America and Europe with profoundexpertise in the continent’s regional landcover. The quality of the final product standstestimony to the advantages of internationalscientific co-operation and provides anessential assessment of the continent’s landresources at the turn of the new millennium.

The map of South America along with these explicative notes can be requested from theJoint Research Centre, either through the Webpages of the GLC 2000 project.or by electronicmail.

Contact Information:South America Co-ordinator: Dr. Hugh Eva([email protected])

GLC Products page: http://www.gvm.jrc.it/glc2000/productGLC2000.htm

Bibliographic reference:H.D.Eva, E.E.de Miranda, C.M.Di Bella,V.Gond, et al., 2002, A Vegetation map ofSouth America, EUR 20159 EN, EuropeanCommission, Luxembourg.

FORESTRY AND SOCIETY NETWORK

Forestry and Society Network, established in1992, is a nationwide community forestrynetwork in China. The goal of Forestry andSociety Network is to collect, disseminate andexchange the experience, mode and relevantinformation of community forestry. TheEnglish website of the Network is nowavailable: www.cfnetwork.com.cn

Contact:Professor Li WeichangCoordinator of Forestry and Soceity NetworkChinese Academy of ForestryWan Shou Shan, 100091, Beijing, ChinaTel: (86 10)62888530Fax: (86 10)62882317E-mail address: [email protected]

UK- FUNDED RESEARCH ON THEIMPACTS OF COMMUNITY FORESTRYIN NEPAL in JOURNAL OF FOREST ANDLIVELIHOOD

The fourth issue of the Journal of Forest andLivelihood, which is also the 26th mailing ofthe Rural Development Forestry Network(RDFN) showcases some UK- fundedresearch on the impacts of communityforestry in Nepal.

There are seven papers based on researchprojects, all funded by the UK Department for

1Joint Research Centre of the EuropeanCommission2Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária,EMBRAPA-CNPM, Campinas, Brazil3Instituto de Clima y Agua – INTA, Buenos Aires,Argentina4CIRAD / ECOFOR, Cayenne, French Guyana

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International Development (DFID). Thesepapers outline some of the key issues arisingin the application of community forestry inNepal today and they can all be found on theODI forest policy and environment groupwebsite: -

http://www.odifpeg.org.uk/publications/rdfn/26/index.html

for more information please contact:Dina Hashem RDFN Administrator ODI111 Westminster Bridge Rd London SE1 7JD; United Kingdomtel: +44 (0) 20 7922 0352 fax: +44 (0) 20 7922 0399

REVISED VERSION OF THE ECOCROPCD-ROM

The Land and Plant Nutrition ManagementService (AGLL) is pleased to announce therelease of a revised version of the popularECOCROP CD-ROM which has beenproduced in collaboration with the Crop andGrassland Service(AGPC) of FAO. The ECOCROP databaseincludes information on arable crops, grasses,trees and other plant species with economicuses. ECOCROP primarily holds informationabout the climate and soil requirements anduses of plant species, but it also provides arange of other information, such as a briefdescription of the species, common names indifferent languages and possible yields. Itgives textual information about the interactionof environmental factors and the influence ofthese factors on plant growth. ECOCROPincludes a digitized climate zone map. WithECOCROP one can: identify a suitable cropfor a specified environment, identify a crop witha specific habit of growth, identify crop for adefined use and look up the environmentalrequirement and uses of a given crop. Therevised version, apart from being more user-

friendly, has been increased from 1700 tomore than 2100 plant species and thedescriptions and search options now alsoinclude plant habit, detail use and used partsof plant. The ecological description has beenextended and many species now also have acultivation description and an ID photo.

ECOCROP is also available on-line athttp://ecocrop.fao.orgFor more technical information pleasecontact: [email protected] To order a free copy please [email protected]

The editor:David [email protected]

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM FORS U S T A I N A B L E D R Y L A N DAGRICULTURE SYSTEMS

Organized by ICRISAT and IPALAC

Venue: International Crops ResearchInstitute for the Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)Sahelian Center, Niamey, Niger Dates: December Tuesday 2 to Friday 5,2003

Mission and Scope of the Conference: The long-standing low crop and livestockproductivity of arid areas in Africa is a majorperpetuator of hunger and poverty amongcommunities inhabiting these areas. Theconstraints to dry land agriculture areintertwined, and include low erratic rainfall,poor soil fertility, land degradation, pests, andinadequate access to agriculturaltechnologies. These are compounded byun-sustainable use of land, e.g. uncontrolledfalling of trees for firewood without replanting,continuous monoculture cultivation of landwithout rotation, wind and water erosion.Sustainable agriculture could be looked at ascultivation without reducing the future

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productive potential of the resource base. ThisInternational Symposium for Sustainable Dryland Agriculture Systems (ISSDAS) seeks tosearch and formulate sustainable and practicalagriculture systems that farmers could apply inthe dry areas of Africa. Towards this goal,answers are sort to these questions:

- Are there sustainable rain-fed farmingsystems in semi-arid lands?

- What is the optimum value generated per unitarea and volume of rainfall water in some ofthe sustainable systems used?

- How do we improve participation of partnersto use their comparative advantage andenable prompt feedback into research forincreased impact?

Following the presentations a roundtable willtry to synthesize the various approachespresented into principles for sustainable dryland agriculture.Languages: English, French.

Conference Topics and Symposia: Topics to be covered at the conferenceinclude: agro ecology and sustainableagriculture, soil conservation and fertilitymanagement, crop improvement andphysiology, crop protection from pests anddiseases, post harvest handling and foodprocessing; rural socio-economics;participatory research, agricultural extensionand education, plant biotechnology. Both oraland poster presentations will be delivered. Conference fee and activities: The conferencefee is US$ 100 per participant, which covers aregistration package, conference abstracts,twice daily tea breaks, lunches, amid-conference excursion, an opening socialgathering and the closing gala dinner.

Timeframe and Deadlines:

13 April 2003 First announcement and call for

titles 19 June 2003.Second announcement and call for titles andabstracts 31 July 2003.Deadline for submission of titles to theorganizing committee.

31 August 2003 Deadline for submission ofabstracts 30 September 2003. Tentativeprogram available through email on request.

30 October 2003 Deadline for submission offull papers .02 December 2003 The InternationalSymposium for Sustainable Dry landAgriculture Systems begins.

Contact Information (email communicationsare preferred)

Dr. Gospel Omanya, ICRISAT SahelianCenterB.P. 12404, NiameyNiger.Telephone: 227-722626/722529; Fax 227734329Email: [email protected]

orMr. Arnie Schlissel IPALAC-Administrative Coordinator, Israel. Telephone: 972 8 646 1905 Fax: 972 8 647 2984Email: [email protected]. Saidou AbdoussalamICRISAT Sahelian Center B.P. 12404, Niamey Niger.Telephone: 227-722626/722529; Fax 227734329Email: [email protected]

ISSDAS Scientific Advisory Committee

Dr.Steve Franzel, World Agroforestry

Dr. Sara J. Scherr, Future Harvest

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FoundationDr. Andre Bationo, TSBF

ISSDAS Organizing CommitteeProf. Dov Pasternak, ICRISAT/IPALAC Center(formerly ICRAF)Dr. Gospel Omanya, ICRISATMr. Arnie Schlissel-IPALAC Mr. Saidou Abdoussalam

PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH(PAR) FOR COMMUNITY BASEDN A T U R A L R E S O U R C E SMANAGEMENT (CBNRM)

International course: 8-19 December 2003

Training base: IIRR, Cavite, Philippines Costs: US$2500. This includes food andaccommodation, course materials, airportpick-up and health insurance but excludescosts of visas, transportation costs of getting toand from IIRR (apart from airport pick-up anddrop off) and pocket money (US$ 100 perweek is suggested).

For application and more information, contact:Education&[email protected]

Is this course for you and your networkcontacts?* Are you senior decision makers working withCBNRM?* Do you have critical insights on the currentbarriers to advancing CBNRM? * Would you like an opportunity to share ideason how learning in CBNRM can be made moreeffective? * Would you like to critically examineand contribute to the international discourse onCBNRM?What is the course approach? * It will be set-up as a think tank and notprimarily as an instructive course. This coursewill emphasize providing a stimulating learningenvironment for sharing of ideas betweenparticipants, facilitators and others.

* It will be focused on exploring 'people'issues of relevance to CBNRM through PARapproaches. E.g. issues such as rights, powerrelationships, multiple perspectives andparticipation, rather than technical issues.* It will have a mixture of exploring concepts,experimentation (using participatoryapproaches with different stakeholders toexplore and analyse different perspectives),reflection and action (developing a 'thinkpiece' paper). * This will be the chance to exchangeexperiences on the current barriers toadvancing CBNRM and evaluate whetherPAR could make a contribution in addressingsuch challenges.

What will this course cover? * A reflection upon and sharing of experienceson CBNRM * A thorough exploration of the principles ofPAR* Experimentation with a range of tools forexamining different perspectives relevant toCBNRM with actual stakeholders * A critical analysis on the PAR approach andits relevance to advancing CBNRM in thespecific contexts of the participants* An opportunity to document insights to addto the discourse on CBNRM Customized course

From October 2003 onwards, RECOFTC andIIRR can provide a customized PAR forCBNRM course in any appropriate requestedlocation. When requesting such a course, theprovision of 3 months notice to either IIRR orRECOFTC would be appreciated. The costsfor the customized course will be determinedon a case by case basis.About the course organizers

The International Development ResearchCentre (IDRC) is a public corporation createdby the Canadian government to helpcommunities in the developing world findsolutions to social, economic, and

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environmental problems through research.<<www.idrc.ca>>

The International Institute of RuralReconstruction (IIRR) with headquarters in thePhilippines is an international NGO with itsorigins in the Rural Reconstruction Movementstarted by IIRR's founder, James Yen in Chinain 1923. IIRR today is a research and traininginstitute working in Asia, Africa and SouthAmerica, working with and learning from therural poor in its field programs while promotingpositive change through its internationaltraining courses and publications.<<www.iirr.org>>The Regional Community Forestry TrainingCenter for Asia and Pacific (RECOFTC) basedin Bangkok, Thailand is an internationalorganization that actively supports communityforestry development in the region. As alearning organization, RECOFTC designs andfacilitates learning processes and systems thatsupport the capacity development ofcommunity forestry institutions andorganizations. <<www.recoftc.org>>

For information about IIRR publications,please see: http://www.iirr.org/publicationbdate.htm

To learn more about our international coursesc o n t a c t u s v i a e - m a i l a t :Education&[email protected]

H I M A L A Y A N B I O D I V E R S I T YCONSERVATION

Ram Bhandari

The Himalayas form one of the world's richestecosystems in terms of biological biodiversity.However biodiversity in the Himalayas isthreatened and species loss is alarming. Thereis a great need of conservation and

management of biodiversity in the region.Realizing the importance of these naturalresources, an International Conference onHimalayan Biodiversity (ICHB-2003) wasorganized by Himalayan Resources Institute(HIRI); Biodiversity Research Group (BRG)/Central Department of Zoology (Tribhuvan University); The EcologicalAssociation of Nepal (ECOAN); andBiotechnology Association of Nepal (NBA) onFebruary 26-28, 2003 in Kathmandu, Nepalas an event of the International Year ofMountains (IYM-2002). The main themes for the conference included(a) Himalayan Flora and Fauna, b)Biodiversity Conservation, c) IndigenousKnowledge on Biodiversity Conservation, d)Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights(TRIPs), and e) Eco-tourism. The objective ofthe conference was to identify issues andoptions of biodiversity conservation, exchangeideas, and explore areas of cooperation inresearch, implementation of action plans, andintegration of crosscutting disciplines likeeco-tourism. More than 200 scientists,researchers, planners, and managers anddevelopment professionals representing over15 countries and over 50 national andinternational organizations participated in theconference.

One of the conference outputs was theseven-point Kathmandu Declaration, which isas follows:

1. Realizing the lack of effectiveimplementation of earlier convention andtreaties (such as CBD, Kyoto, Johannesburg),this conference strongly demands that nationstate in the region incorporate/translate theprovisions of the treaty, convention intonational legislation.2. This conference s t ronglyrecommends for the creation of HimalayanBiodiversity database for the long-termresearch and monitoring of natural resourcesfor sustainable development including human

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ETFRN News 37/02130

dimension.3. Realizing the rapid depletion ofbiological resources and the indigenousknowledge system (IKS), this conferencestrongly recommends the meaningfulparticipatory Biodiversity Conservationapproach based on indigenous knowledge.4. Realizing the Mountains Ecosystemas fragile and unique repository of immensebiological and cultural diversity, thisconference recommends that the internationalcommunity pay special attention to theconservation and sustainable development ofthese mountain ecosystem and culturallandscape.5. Recognizing the lack of coordinationand communication among scientificcommunity and institution involved inHimalayan Biodiversity conservation, thisconference strongly recommends for theestablishment of institutionalized networking ofpolicy maker, scientists/researchers andinstitutions.6. Th is conference s t rong lyrecommends that WTO respect the conventionon Biological diversity in particular in protectingthe rights of the communities and farmers whoare the true custodian of biological diversities.7. The conference opposes theextension of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)regime specifically patenting on to life formsand genetic process, which are the creation ofmillion years of natural evolutionary process.

For more information, please contact: Mr. Ram Bhandari Organizing Secretary,International Conference on HimalayanBiodiversity(ICHB-2003), Kathmandu, NepalPresident and Executive Director, Himalayan Resources Institute (HIRI)P. O. Box: 13880, New Baneshwor, Kathmandu, NepalTel.: 00977-1-4-491646E-mail:[email protected]@yahoo.com

Http:// www.hirinepal.com

B E E S F O R D E V E L O P M E N TANNOUNCE ITS NEW WEBSITE ISOPEN!

Providing an insight into our work andactivities, you can visit the site for all sorts ofreasons.Not yet a subscriber to our Journal? You arewelcome to download a complimentary copyif you wish and then subscribe on the site.Browse through our Store and make yourchoices from the 200 items available.Join forum discussions on:top-bar hives, honey marketing andlegislation, beekeeping projects, organiccertification;Bees for Development Safaris, and more.

Support Bees for Development Trust – give adonation by credit card or download yourstanding order and Gift Aid forms. Downloada range of informative documents. Look at theLinks, Communication Centre and informationa b o u t B e e s f o r D e v e l o p m e n t ;www.beesfordevelopment.org

We are most grateful for technical wizardryprovided by Webmaster Steven Turner in thedesign and production of the site.We acknowledge financial support fromMonmouth County Council www.grantsscheme.Thanks to sponsorship from Anglo Americanplc international visitors have the opportunityto read the site in French, German, Greek,Portuguese, Russian or Spanish, in additionto English.

Contact:Bees for DevelopmentTroy, MonmouthNP25 4AB, UKTel +44 (0) 16007 13648

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ETFRN News 39-40/03 131

Fax +44 (0) 16007 [email protected] Bees for Development Trust Charity No1078803

INTERNATIONAL TEAK UNIT

Coillte Consult Ltd is a subsidiary companyof Coillte (Irish Forestry Board) which ownsand manages 450,000 ha of FSC certifiedplantations. Since 1993, Coillte Consult hasworked in Latin America (Costa Rica,Panama, Brazil, El Salvador, Belize), Africa(Ghana, Benin, Cameroon, Kenya, Tanzania),and Asia (Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand,Vietnam), providing a range of independentservices to growers, investors, traders anddevelopment agencies in the tropical timberplantations sector - with emphasis on teak. Toconsolidate these services and to providegreater customer focus, Coillte Consultestablished the International Teak Unit (ITU)in 2003. For more information please seehttp://www.coillte.ie/international_consultancy_services/english-teak.htmor contact:

IrelandRaymond M. Keogh Dublin Road, Newtown Mt Kennedy, Co Wicklow, Ireland Tel: + 353 1 201 1150 Fax: + 353 1 201 1199Email: [email protected]

Latin America

Mauricio Pineda Contiguo al Club de Amigos, San Ramon, Alajuela, Costa RicaTel: + 506 447 4174 E-mail: [email protected]

East Africa

Sean White PO Box 63329.Muthaiga,Nairobi, KenyaTel: + 254 (0) 2 271 0448 Mobile + 254 (0) 721 383 585E-mail: [email protected]

Publications


By Bert van der Linden

CHALLENGES OF A CHANGINGEARTHPROCEEDINGS OF THE GLOBALC H A N G E O P E N S C I E N C ECONFERENCE, AMSTERDAM, THENETHERLANDS, 10-13 JULY 2001

W. Steffen et al (eds.) 2002

This book presents a state-of-the-scienceoverview of global change and itsconsequences for human societies. Ithighlights four areas of critical importance -food, water resources, air quality and thecarbon cycle - from both science and policyperspectives, and points the way towards thenew scientific approaches needed to study theEarth System in the future. The book alsosummarises recent advances in understandingin global change science: the climate system,global biogeochemistry, land-oceaninteractions and changing land cover and theEarth System.

Orders:Springer-VerlagTiergartenstrasse 17D-69121 HeidelbergGermanyFax:+49 6221 487 8141Website:http://www.springer.de

GLOBAL-REGIONAL LINKAGES INTHE EARTH SYSTEMTHE IGBP SERIES

P. Tyson et al (Eds.) (2002)

This book synthesises current knowledge ofregional-global linkages in four regions todemonstrate that study of environmentalchange on a regional scale can enhance

understanding of global-scale environmentalc h a n g e s . T h e I n t e r n a t i o n a lGeosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) isan international co-operative scientificprogramme to addressing the issue of globalenvironmental change in order to understandthe way in which global biogeochemical cycleshave changed over different time scales in thepast and are likely to do so in the future. In thisbook it is demonstrated that an integratedapproach to studying regional environmentalchange in its own right is a powerful tool forenhancing understanding of the Earth Systemat a global scale. Four case studies ofindividual aspects of integrated regionalstudies are presented to illustrate how theiroutcomes may contribute to a betterunderstanding of the Earth System as a whole.The four regions are Southern Africa, SouthAsia, South-East Asia and East Asia.

Orders:Springer-VerlagTiergartenstrasse 17D-69121 HeidelbergGermanyFax:+49 6221 487 8141Website:http://www.springer.de

LAND-WATER LINKAGES IN RURALWATERSHEDS

FAO Land and Water Bulletin 9

This is the report of the electronic workshop"Land Water Linkages in Rural Watersheds"hosted by the FAO Land and WaterDevelopment Division from 18 September to27 October 2000. The workshop examinedrelationships between land use and waterresources in rural watersheds. It identifiedmechanisms and instruments for sharingbenefits and costs resulting from land useimpacts on water resources between upstreamand downstream stakeholders in a watershedcontext, as well as priorities for further work.

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About 470 people from all over the worldsubscribed to this electronic forum.Discussions were grouped around three mainquestions:1. What are the biophysical impacts ofupstream land uses on downstream waterresources in rural watersheds?2. How can these impacts be valued interms of benefits and costs to downstreampeople?3. Which mechanisms can be identifiedto share these benefits and costs amongupstream and downstream land and waterusers?

The complete workshop documentation,including discussion archive, backgroundpapers and case studies, is included on theCD-ROM that accompanies the document.

For more information:Sales and Marketing GroupPublishing Management ServiceFAO Information DivisionViale delle Terme di Caracalla00100 Rome, [email protected]: + 39 06 5705 3360 http://www.fao.org/icatalog/inter-e.htm

FAO PUBLICATIONS

Titles in Print

The FAO Publications Catalogue is intendedas a source of reference for experts and laypeople, farmers, trainers and researchers, aswell as for booksellers and librarians. Titles inEnglish, French and Spanish are listedalphabetically within each section, with ISBNor FAO Job Number (e.g. V123/E). The dateshown against each title entry is the date of thelatest available edition, not necessarily thedate of publication.

The FAO Publications Catalogue, regularly

updated, is also available on-line athttp://www.fao.org/icatalog/inter-e.htm offeringshopping cart and secure payment facilities.

STAKEHOLDER INCENTIVES INP A R T I C I P A T O R Y F O R E S TMANAGEMENT: A MANUAL FORECONOMIC ANALYSIS

Richards M., J. Davies & G. Yaron (2003)

This manual stems from a widespread concernthat there is insufficient understanding of thecosts and benefits to local communities andsmall farmers of participatory forestmanagement (PFM) and a realisation that thishas been a contributory factor in the limitedsuccess of many PFM experiences. Themanual provides a toolbox of economicmethods, which will help maximise theunderstanding and ownership of local people.Designed for use at the project or micro level,the book integrates economic analysis withother decision-making criteria to provide asystematic yet flexible approach to analysingstakeholder incentives in PFM. Part Iintroduces the economic concepts applied toPFM. Part II sets out a step-by-step approachto economic stakeholder analysis - from theidentification of stakeholders to establishing aparticipatory monitoring system.

The book can be ordered on line from ODI bygoing to:http://www.odifpeg.org.uk/economicsofPFM/bookdetails.htmlor send an email to [email protected],

or otherwise contact ITDG Publishing, 103-105 Southampton Row, London WC1B 4HLUnited Kingdomtel. +44(0)20 7436 9761, Fax: + 44(0) 20 7436 2013

Publications


WAY OUT OF THE WOODSLEARNING HOW TO MANAGE TREESAND FORESTS

Paul van Mele (ed.) 2003

The Way out of the Woods is an account ofhow well forestry and agroforestry projects inthree countries (Nepal, Kenya and Bolivia)have succeeded in generating knowledge forthe benefit of the rural poor and theenvironment. The book explores the roles thescientists and rural people play in finding away towards sustainable development of treesand forests. The book contains three casestudies describing the relationship anddynamism of biological and cultural diversityand its implication for researchers anddevelopment workers aiming to improvelivelihoods of local communities andenvironmental stability. The first case studyconcerns the Nepalese NGO SEACOWworking with indigenous forest users. Thesecond study presents findings from a group ofinternational scientists at ICRAF in Kenya, whoover the past 7 years have conducted threedifferent types of on-farm research with varyinglevels of farmer participation, depending on theresearch objectives. The third study is onautonomous knowledge generation by anindigenous community in the Bolivian Andes.

For further information contact: Dr. Paul van Mele CABI Bioscience UK Centre Bakeham Lane, Egham Surrey, TW20 9TYUnited KingdomTel: +44 (0) 1491 829 000 Fax: +44 (0) 1491 829 100 Email: [email protected] Website: www.CABI-Bioscience.org

MAKING FOREST POLICY WORK

Alastair I. Fraser (2002)

This book is concerned with the process ofdeveloping policy and the subsequentimplementation rather than with specificcontent, though many of the important issueswhich policies must address are discussed. Itis based on a review of many case studies withwhich the author has been personally involvedover the past 40 years. An explanation is givenof what forest policy implies, including resourcemanagement policy, fiscal policy, conservationpolicy, energy policy, land use policy anddistribution policy. Other chapters addresstopics like the implementation of policy, thecauses of policy failure, factors that havecontributed to successful policies, a frameworkfor successful policy formulation andimplementation and a revision of policy.

For further information contact the author: Alastair I. Fraser Forest Policy and Economic Consultant 21 Hayfield, East Graigs Edinburgh EH12 8UJ Scotland, UnitedKingdomEmail: [email protected]

Orders: Kluwer Academic PublishersPO Box 3223300 AH Dordrecht, The Netherlands

ILLEGAL LOGGING: SPECIAL ISSUEOF THE INTERNATIONAL FORESTRYREVIEW

Logging for wood products is responsible forabout one-third of total global deforestation,and possibly over half of all the loggingactivities in the most vulnerable regions areconducted illegally. Estimates suggest thatillegal activities may account for over a tenth ofa total global timber trade, itself worth over

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ETFRN News 39-40/03 135

$150bn a year. Illegal logging costsgovernments millions of dollars in lost revenue,it threatens livelihoods and it a majorenvironmental problem.

The International Forestry Review in itsSeptember 2003 Special Issue examines thecauses and effects of illegal logging andreports on the most recent research and policydevelopments by foresters, scientists, NGOsand policy makers. Contributions from DFID,the World Bank, Greenpeace, ADB, ForestMonitor, CIRAD-Forêêt, RIIA, US Departmentof State, ITTO, FERN, Timber TradesFederation, ODI, CIFOR and others providethe most complete picture available of illegallogging.

Copies of ‘‘Illegal Logging’’ can be purchasedfrom the publishers, the CommonwealthForestry Association, by contacting the editor,Alan Pottinger, at [email protected]

TREES ON THE FARM: ASSESSINGTHE ADOPTION POTENTIAL OFAGROFORESTRY PRACTICES INAFRICA

S. Franzel and SJ. Scherr (Eds.) (2002)

This book intends to fill the gap left by mostpublished books on agroforestry caused by alack of scientific information about thesocio-economic features of agroforestry, andthe adoption of agroforestry practices byfarmers. The book assesses the adoption ofselected agroforestry practices developed withAfrican farmers, describing methods, anddrawing out the implications for research,development, and policy. The volume includesfive case studies of research conducted inKenya and Zambia to evaluate the adoptionpotential of agroforestry. The cases illustratemethods of farm and village technologydesign, testing, and analysis that areapplicable to a wide range of natural resourcemanagement practices. Along with the case

studies, the contents also include chapters on:methods for assessing agroforestry adoptionpotential, promoting new agroforestrytechnologies: policy lessons learnt and futuredirections.

For further information contact CABI Publishing, CABI International NosworthyWay, WallingfordOxon OX10 8DEUnited Kingdom Tel: +44(0)1491 832111 Fax: +44(0)1491 829198 Email: [email protected] Website: www.cabi-publishing.org.

TAPPING THE GREEN MARKET:CERTIFICATION AND MANAGEMENTOF NON-TIMBER FOREST PRODUCTS.

By Abraham Guillén, Sarah A. Laird, PatriciaShanley and Alan R. Pierce (2002)

Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) areincreasingly recognized as providing criticalresources across the globe, fulfilling nutritional,medicinal, financial and cultural needs.However, despite the rapidly growing interestin, and demand for, such products as Brazilnuts, baobab bark, rattans, pine resin, maplesyrup, bromeliads and chicle, NTFPs havelargely been overlooked in mainstreamconservation and forestry politics. This volumeexplains the use and importance of market-based tools such as certification and eco-labelling for guaranteeing best managementpractices of NTFPs in the field. Using extensivecase studies and global profiles of NTFPs, thisbook furthers our comprehension ofcertification processes and broadens ourunderstanding of NTFP management,harvesting and marketing. This practicalvolume includes valuable guidelines onassessment of NTFP management andspecies-specific certification. It will proveindispensable for forest managers, policy-

Publications


makers and conservation organizations as wellas academics in these areas.

People and Plants series. Earthscan. 2002. ISBN 1853838101. UK£ 24.95; on-line ordered price UK£ 19.96www.earthscan.co.uk/asp/bookdetails.asp?key=3827 . Related books:http://www.earthscan.co.uk/asp/bookdetails.asp?key=3588 .

AGROFORESTRY MANUAL:AGRODOK 16

By Ed Verheij (2003)

This manual addresses agroforestry in thetropics. It focusses on so-called "auxiliarywoody plants" which do not yield a marketableproduct, but play a supporting role in croppingsystems, e.g. providing shade or shelter,serving as support or protection (a hedge tokeep out cattle, or - on a slope - to stemerosion) and, last but not least, supplyingfodder and/or fuel wood. Chapter 1 concludesthat the supportive role implies thatagroforestry cannot just deal with the woodyplants; it must also study how the woody plantsinteract with the crops or animals they shade,shelter, support, etc.

Woody plants have a favorable impact on theenvironment. This may benefit farming,provided adverse effects are minimized, suchas competition with crop plants for water,nutrients and light, or a well-adapted speciesbecoming a noxious weed, infesting pastures,etc. Chapter 2 deals with these favorable andadverse effects. Rural people are generallyquite familiar with the trees in theirsurroundings and manage them carefully.However, mounting population pressure andmigration lead to a break-down of traditionalcustoms regulating the use of trees, resultingin deforestation, and loss of trees through

overgrazing and excessive use of fuel wood. Athorough understanding of prevailing attitudesregarding trees and of the reasons why treesare disappearing is a prerequisite forsuccessful agroforestry interventions.

Chapter 3 outlines the relations betweenclimate, natural vegetation and farming system.In the humid tropics trees dominate the naturalvegetation and they are very prominent in thefarming system. Going towards drier climatesthe natural tree cover declines. In the farmingsystem annual crops dominate in sub-humidclimates, but in semi-arid conditions cattledominate the farming system. Agroforestryinterventions face their greatest challenge inthese drier climates: where the trees are fewand far between, each tree becomes moreimportant. Also, the choice of speciesemployed in agroforestry narrows and theinteractions with animals are more critical.

In Chapter 4 the following agroforestry systemsare described:- live stakes, fences and hedges;- hedgerow barriers or contour hedgerows,planted to control erosion on sloping land;- windbreaks and shelterbelts;- parklands, i.e. scattered trees in pastures orcultivated fields;- alley cropping, i.e. hedges of woody plantsflanking alleys of annual crops;- improved fallows, i.e. a planted fallow offast-growing woody plants to restore soilfertility;- home gardens. Design criteria for each system are given aswell as management considerations andsuitable agroforestry species.

Appendices include - a glossary of terms;- a list of agroforestry species with commonnames and brief particulars regarding habit,propagation, ecology and uses;- a list of Further readings;- a list of useful addresses where further

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information, seed ,etc. can be obtained

Agrodoks are published by the AgromisaFoundation in Wageningen, the Netherlands.For further information on Agromisa, pleasesee address below. This publication has beenco-published with CTA.

AGROMISAP.O. Box 41, 6700 AA Wageningen The NetherlandsFax: +31 317 419 178 E-mail: [email protected]: www.agromisa.org

CTA Those who have registered with CTA'sPublications Distribution Service may obtainAgrodok publications using their credit pointsand a CTA publications order form.Applications will be considered fromorganisations and individuals active inagricultural and rural development andestablished in ACP countries. For an application form, please write to:CTAP.O. Box 380, 6700 AJ Wageningen The NetherlandsFax: +31 317 460 067 E-mail: mailto:[email protected] or [email protected] URL: www.cta.nl

WOMEN AND PLANTS: GENDERRELATIONS IN BIODIVERSITYMANAGEMENT AND CONSERVATION.

By P. Howard (Editor) (2003)

This unique collection of largely unpublished,in-depth case studies drawn from LatinAmerica, Asia, Africa, Europe and NorthAmerica aims to increase our understanding ofthe importance of women and gender relationsin plant biodiversity management andconservation. It provides a state-of-the-artoverview of the concepts, relationships and

contexts that help explain the relatively hiddengender dimensions of people-plant relations.

The contributors come from a rich range ofdisciplines including ethnobotany, geography,agronomy, anthropology, plant breeding,nutrition, development economics andwomen's studies. They demonstrate howcrucial women are to plant genetic resourcemanagement and conservation at household,village, and community levels; and how genderrelations have a strong influence on the waysin which local people understand, manage, andconserve biodiversity. Continued access toplant biodiversity is crucial to rural women'sstatus and welfare, and their motivationstherefore are a principal driving forcecountering processes of genetic erosion.

The volume covers the following broad areas:* Women, the domestic arena and plantconservation* Gender relations, women's rights and plantmanagement* Gendered plant knowledge in science andsociety* Plants, women's status and welfare* Gender, biodiversity loss and conservation.

The contributors highlight the gender biasesevident in much contemporary scientificresearch, policy and development practicerelating to biodiversity management. And theyseek to contribute to a number of importantdebates, including the determinants of geneticerosion, the significance of gender inethnobotanical knowledge systems, traditionalintellectual property rights systems andwomen's entitlements therein, and otherd e b a t e s a b o u t t h e n a t u r e o fgender-environment relations.

T h e b o o k c a n b e o r d e r e d a thttp://zedweb.hypermart.net/home.htm or atAmazon.com or through Palgrave-Macmillan

http://www.palgrave-usa.com/catalogue/index

Publications


.asp? isbn=1842771574Editor: P. Howard, Wageningen University The NetherlandsPublication: August 2003Pages: 298 pp., 566 refs., tables, graphs,botanical index, subject indexBinding: Paperback/HardbackISBN: 1 84277 156 6 cased; 1 84277 157 4limpPrice: £16.95 (US$29.95) paper; £49.95(US$75.00) hardbound

Readership: Ethnobotany, biodiversityconservation, forestry, indigenous knowledge,gender studies, and development studies.

TROPICAL FORESTRY REPORTS 25:DOMESTICATION OF AN INDIGENOUSTROPICAL FOREST TREE: IROKO

by Mark Appiah (2003)

Tropical Forestry Reports published by theViiki Tropical Resources Institute (VITRI),University of Helsinki contain (mainly English)doctoral dissertations, original researchreports, seminar proceedings and researchpro jec t rev iews, connec ted wi thFinnish-supported international developmentcooperation in the field of forestry. This reportdeals with the domestication of an indigenoustropical forest tree in Ghana: Iroko (Milicaexcelsa). It provides an overview of silviculturaland socio-economic studies on Iroko, withspecial attention to indigenous forestmanagement.

For further information, contact VITRI,P.O.Box 28, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki,Finland or the editor: Olavi LuukkanenTel: 358-9-191 58643 Fax: 358-9-191 58646 Email: [email protected]: http://honeybee.helsinki.fi/tropic

PROCEEDINGS OF ADVANCES INGENETIC IMPROVEMENT OFTROPICAL TREE SPECIES

Anto Rimbawanto & Mudji Susanta (Eds.)(2003)

This publication contains the proceedings of aninternational seminar organised to present andevaluate the progress in research on geneticimprovement of tropical tree species carriedout within the framework of a project thatstarted in 1992 as a technical co-operationbetween Japan and Indonesia.

For more information:Centre For Forest Biotechnology and TreeImprovementJI. Palagan T. Pelajar Km. 15Purwobinangun, PakemYogyakarta 55582, IndonesiaE-mail: [email protected]

SMALL-SCALE FAST-GROWINGFOREST PLANTATION PROJECT INMALAYSIA (1999-2002)INTEGRATED REPORT

This publication is a report of the "Small-ScaledForest Plantation Using Fast-Growing TreeSpecies Project", implemented by the JapanInternational Cooperation Agency (JICA).During the project period, various studies wereconducted to achieve the project purpose, i.e.developing effective methods for small-scaleforest plantation that will enhance privateinvestments. This integrated report is acompilation of the results of those activities.

For further information contact :JICA, Shinjuku Maynds Tower 1-1, Yoyogi 2-chome Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151-8558 Tel: 03-5332-5249 Fax: 03-5352-5079

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RECORD OF MULTI-STORIED FORESTM A N A G E M E N T P R O J E C T I NMALAYSIA

This publication is a compilation of growth dataand photographs of the Multi-Storied ForestManagement Project, which was implementedwith the purpose to collect technical andmanagerial information for establishing amulti-storied forest management system topromote forest plantation activities andsustainable forests development andmanagement in the tropics.

For further information:F o r e s t r y D e p a r t m en t P en ins u l a rMalaysia(FDPM)Jalan Sultan Salahuddin50660 Kuala LumpurMalaysia

PROSEA PLANT RESOURCES OFSOUTH-EAST ASIA 15(2) CRYPOTOGAMS: FERNS ANDFERN ALLIES

Winter, W.P. de & V.P. Amoroso (eds.) (2003)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia is amultivolume handbook that aims to summariseknowledge about useful plants for workers ineducation, research, extension and industry.This volume deals with ferns and fern alliesand addresses a variety of topics, such asdiversity, ecology, origin and geographicdistribution of species, propagation, geneticresources and breeding, as well as theirimportance in terms of resources for food,medicine, structural materials, ornamentalsand other properties.

For further information contact Prosea Publication OfficeWageningen University

Haarweg 333, P.O.Box 3416700 AH WageningenThe Netherlands Tel: +31 317 484587 Fax: +31 317 482206 Email: [email protected].

KEY SITES FOR CONSERVATIONDIRECTORY OF IMPORTANT BIRDAREAS IN VIETNAM

A.W, Tordoff (ed.) (2002)

This publication is a contribution toconservation planning in Vietnam for the 21stCentury. Birds are used as indicators to identifya set of internationally important sites forbiodiversity conservation, termed ImportantBird Areas (IBAs). IBAs are not only importantfor birds, but typically support a wide range ofother important animal species and plantspecies. Furthermore, many IBAs are alsosignificant for human welfare and economicwell being through protecting catchments,providing flood control or as source of naturalresources. The global IBA programme, whichbegan in Europe in 1985, is co-ordinated byBirdlife International. In the Vietnamese IBAprogramme Birdlife International collaborateswith the Institute of Ecology and Biologicalresources, and with financial support fromDanida.

Copies are available from Birdlife International in Indochina 11 Lane 167 Tay Son, Dong Da, Ha NoiVietnamTel: +84 4 851 7217 Email: [email protected]: www.birdlifevietnam.com (English),www.birdlifevietnam.org (Vietnamese)

Publications


FOREST INITIATIVES NEWSLETTER

This publication is produced by the ForestLiaison Bureau, a part of the EuropeanCommission-Indonesia Forest Programme,and provides information on objectives andaim oriented activities of the Planning Agencyof the Ministry of Forestry of Indonesia.

For further information contact: Forest Liaison Bureau Manggala Wanabakti Building Block VII - 6th floor, Jl. Jend. Gatot Subroto, Jakarta SelatanIndonesiaTel: +62 21 572 0194, 573 3043.Fax: +62 21 572 0219 Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.eu-flb.or.id/.

NEW SWISS PUBLICATION ONN A T U R A L R E S O U R C E S I NINTERNATIONAL COOPERATION:INFORESOURCES NEWS

Inforesources News focuses on agriculture,forestry and environment in internationalcooperation. It replaces previous informationproducts produced by InfoAgrar; Inforest andInfothek CDE. It is published in French,English and Spanish, in both an Email and ahardcopy version. Inforesources News isavailable free of charge.

or contact:InforesourcesLänggasse 85CH-3052 ZollikofenSwitzerlandFax +41 31 910 21 54Email: [email protected]: www.inforesources.ch


Past Issues of ETFRN News

19 General Dec 1996

20 Tropical Forest Research in Africa July 1997

21 Sustainable Forest Management Sept/Oct 1997

22 Research Priorities Dec 1997

23 South East Asia Mar- May 1998

24 Sustainable Forest Management Jun-Aug 1998

25 Mediterranean Forest and Tree Resources Sept-Nov 1998

26 Climate Change Dec 98 - Feb 99

27 Latin America Mar-May 1998

28 Arid and Semi Arid Areas Summer 1999

29 Biodiversity Autumn-Winter 1999

30 Participatory Forest Management Spring-Summer 2000

31 Countries with Low Forest Cover Autumn-Winter 2000

32 Non-Timber Forest Products Winter 2000- 001

33 Forests and Water Spring-Summer 2001

34 Biotechnology Autumn 2001

35 Innovative Financing Mechanisms for Winter 2001-2002Conservation and Sustainable ForestManagement

36 Forest Resources Assessment Spring - Summer 2002

37 Forest Use and Soil Quality Winter 2002/03

38 Mountain Forests Spring-Summer 2003

Issues 19 -38 are available online at http://www.etfrn.org/etfrn/resource/news.html

ETFRN NATIONAL FOCAL POINTSAustria Institut für Waldökologie, Universität für Bodenkultur Wien, Peter Jordan Str. 82, 1190 Vienna.

Tel: +43 1 47 65 44100, Fax: +43 1 479 78 96, Email: [email protected],

Http://ann-etfrn.boku.ac.at Contact: Prof Dr Gerhard Glatzel

Belgium CIS/BIO, Federal Office for Scientific, Technical & Cultural Affairs, Wetenschapsstraat 8,

1000 Brussels. Tel: +32 2 238 34 53, Fax: +32 2 230 59 12, Email: [email protected],

Http://www.belspo.be Contact: Brigitte Decadt

Denmark Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Unit of Forestry, Rolighedsvej 23, 1958 Frederiksberg C

Tel: +45 35 28 22 31, Fax: +45 35 28 26 71, Email: [email protected], Http://www.flec.kvl.dk/etfrn

Contact: Dr Jens Dragsted

Finland Viikki Tropical Resources Institute, PO Box 28, 00014 University of Helsinki, Helsinki Tel: +358 9

19158643 , Fax: +358 9 19158646 , Email: [email protected], http://honeybee.helsinki.fi/tropic/

Contact: Prof Olavi Luukkanen

France ENGREF/SILVOLAB, BP 316, 97379 Kourou Cedex Tel: +5 94 32 26 75, Fax: +5 94 32 43 02,

Email:[email protected], Http://kourou.cirad.fr Contact: Marguerite Reder

Germany Federal Research Centre for Forestry and Forest Products, Institute for World Forestry, Leuschnerstr. 91,

21031 Hamburg. Tel: +49 40 73962 125, Fax: +49 40 73962 480, Email: [email protected]

hamburg.de, Http://www.bfafh Contact: Jobst-Michael Schroeder

Greece Directorate of Forest Resource Development, Section of Forest Research, Ippokratous St. 3, 10164

Athens. Tel: +30 1 036 08084/036 08042, Fax: +30 1 03608685 Contact: Nikolas Efstathiadis

Ireland Council for Forest Research and Development, Agricultural Building, University College Dublin, Belfield,

Dublin 4. Tel: +353 1 716 7700, Fax: +353 1 7061180, Email: [email protected],

Http://www.coford.ie Contact: Eugene Hendrick

Italy Instituto Sperimentale per la Selvicoltura, via delle Cascine 1, 50144, Firenze Tel: +39 055 360061,

Fax: +39 055 362034, Email: [email protected], Http://www.cesit.unifi.it/amazon/ Contact: Giovanni Preto

Netherlands Tropenbos International, PO Box 232, 6700 AE Wageningen. Tel: +31 317 495500, Fax:+31 317

495520, Email: [email protected], Http://www.tropenbos.nl Contact: Réne Boot

Norway Agricultural University of Norway, Dept of Forest Sciences, PO Box 5044, 1432 As, Norway. Tel: +47 64

94 8916, Fax: +47 64 94 8890, Email: [email protected],

http://www.nlh.no/isf/english/research/etfrn/norwegian_home.htm Contact Prem Sankhayan

Portugal Forestry Department, Tapada da Ajuda, 1300 Lisbon. Tel: +351 21 8316500

Fax: +351 21 8316504, Email: [email protected], Http://home.EUnet.pt/id006240

Contact: Prof Dr Raul M de A Sardinha

Spain CIT-INIA, Carretera de la Coruna Km7, 28040 Madrid. Tel: +34 91 347 37 50, Fax: +34 91 347 14 72

http://www.etfrn.org/etfrn/spain/ Contact: Dr Alejandro Lopez de Roma

Sweden Department of Forest Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Science, 901 83 Umeå, Sweden

Tel: +46 90 7866617, Fax: +46 90 7867750, E-mail: [email protected]

Http://www.sek.slu.se/eng/uctree/etfrn/ Contact: Dr Anders Malmer

Switzerland Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, Groupe de foresterie pour le développement, c/o

Department Wald- und Holzforschung, 8092 Zürich. Tel: 41 1 632 3214, Fax: +41 1 632 1033,

Email: [email protected] Http://www.fowi.ethz.ch/etfrn Contact: Dr Jean-Pierre Sorg

U K UK Tropical Forest Forum, c/o Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 2AB, United

Kingdom Tel: +44 208 332 5717, Fax: +44 208 332 5278, Email: [email protected],

Http://www.forestforum.org.uk Contact: Jane Thornback

EC Contact European Commission, DG Research, Rue de la Loi 200, 1049 Brussels, Tel: +32 2 299 42 04,

Fax: +32 2 296 62 52, Email: [email protected] Contact: Prof Nicole Riveill

Http://europa.eu.int/comm/research

The European Tropical Forest Research Network - ETFRN

The European Tropical Forest Research Network is a network of Europeanorganisations involved in (sub)tropical forest research. It is presently supportedby Directorate General for Research of the European Commission under theINCO-DEV Programme.

For further information on ETFRN, please contact your National Focal Point(see inside back cover) or the Coordination Unit (address below).

European Tropical Forest Research Networkc/o Tropenbos International

PO Box 232 6700 AE Wageningen The Netherlands

Tel: +31 317 495516Fax: +31 317 495521 Email : [email protected]://www.etfrn.org/etfrn

ETFRN News is a publication of the European Tropical Forest ResearchNetwork. It is printed on 100% recycled paper and has a circulation of 3,700copies.Texts may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes, citing the source.

Contributions to the ETFRN News are always welcome. Themes and copy deadlines for the next issues:

Forests and Water 15 November 2003

Documents

TABLE OF CONTENTS - COnnecting REpositories · 2016-12-24 · table of contents list of articles 3 organisations - programmes 7 • i globalisation, localisation and tropical forest